


To Fix A Mistake

by Indelible_Faith (TheWaterGoddess)



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Antisocial Character, Bisexual Kaito, Blackmail, Coercion, Demisexual Character, Demisexual Shinchi, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Enemies, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shinichi is also a lil on the antisocial spectrum, Slow Build, Slow Romance, be good to him, he is trying tho, kaito needs to know that being a magician and being a thief are two different skillsets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25033369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWaterGoddess/pseuds/Indelible_Faith
Summary: Kaito had never planned on becoming a thief, especially not an infamous, international, world-renowned phantom thief. He’d not planned on accidentally revealing his identity to a detective either; the most dangerous detective of all, in a way – Edogawa Conan. Strangely, it doesn’t turn out as bad as Kaito would have thought. But at this point, he’d take what he got, no complaints.OrOne can’t expect Kaito to go from playing class jester to first-class thieving outlaw in the blink of an eye, can they? So, yes, he made a mistake – a fatal error. And now he’s stuck as Tantei-kun’s handy-man, knee-deep in a case more dangerous than his own.Whoever called that kid cute and adorable should choke and shrivel and die, because the four-eyed brat was a devil in disguise. With a weirdly passionate heart. Huh. As if there wasn’t enough weirdness in his life already.
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid/Nakamori Aoko
Comments: 105
Kudos: 270





	1. The FBI is dangerous, but Conan’s on a whole new level

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Fatal Error](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10082507) by [Nemuri no Shiromi (dreamingfifi)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingfifi/pseuds/Nemuri%20no%20Shiromi). 



> Warnings: Please pay attention! This story will not have usual characteristics as canon, you’re warned.
> 
> 1) No Romance for now, it comes later.  
> 2) Shinichi has Antisocial Personality Disorder here [a major change!]  
> 3) Kaito and Shinichi are equally smart, but Shinichi has the upper hand when it comes to crimes and criminals. Kaito is the better magician  
> 4) Will have blackmailing, threats, lack of remorse  
> 5) Ran is only a childhood FRIEND [think of John Watson and Sherlock Holmes]  
> 6) Aoko is a friend and potential love interest of Kaito’s, but don’t expect much development there
> 
> …  
> PS: Notable parts of the first chapter have been taken from the ficlet ‘A Fatal Error’. I own nothing but the idea – and even then half the words are not mine. Please read it, it's wonderfully written! The link's provided up there. Then come back and read this xD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito's day goes from bad to worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Kaitou KID finally made that fatal mistake, the one that gets him caught. Spoilers for File #965 ]

Two men were on his porch. Kaito couldn’t recognise one of them, but the other one? Oh dear – that was that strange guy from the heist held two days ago. He’d helped Conan in the bathroom, holding the door shut as the brat ripped him apart with his deductions, forcing him to leave behind his phone and flee.

What was his name again? Something Subaru… the new guy living opposite the old professor from Beika, Second Street. 

“You’re not the delivery man.” Kaito swallowed dryly, having an inkling of what was about to come and dreading it.

“Quite right,” Subaru replied, smiling serenely, “but I’ve come to deliver something regardless.” And saying so, he pulled out Kaito’s phone from his pocket. “Shall we continue this inside?”

Kaito blanched, eyes darting towards the other figure – he’d been standing still, a mask over his face, and had given no introduction – and seeing no choice, he let them in. The moment the door closed, a gun was casually pulled out and Subaru walked further into the house, throwing the phone back at the other guy.

“What do you want?” Kaito asked as Subaru inspected the rooms.

“That matters little.” It was the second man, his voice rasping and hoarse. “What do  _ you _ want, is the question.”

“I–”

“You have about 159 cases of assault filed under the pseudonym Kaito Kid in the last two years, 42 cases of assault with a deadly weapon, 86 cases of fraud and impersonation, 64 cases of theft, 18 cases of attempted theft, 72 cases of breaking and entering, 32 cases of impersonating a police officer – are you aware of the court sentence you can get for all of these?”

_ What. the. fuck!? _

“Who are you?” Kaito demanded angrily, there were two men in his house – armed – and they had access to all his data via his phone. This was going out of hand quick… 

“No one of consequence,” the guy replied, “unless you refuse to comply quietly.”

Kaito narrowed his eyes, a small capsule of sleeping gas falling into his palm with a twitch of his fingers. It wouldn’t be enough, but it would give him an edge. “Comply with what?”

“How is your mother doing, Kuroba?” Subaru had returned and stood at the doorway, gun thankfully back in his pocket. “Does she know of your pathetically inadequate attempts of security regarding your special identity?”

“My mother’s got nothing to do with this!”

Subaru smiled, “Do you know how much information one can get off of a cheap phone like that? Even burner-phones give away their owners all too easily. There are fingerprints, like the ones on the battery of your phone. And, yours was a smartphone.”

The masked guy coughed, “Not the smartest thing you did, leaving it with Conan.”

Oh, yes, how could Kaito forget Conan – that little backstabber! After all he’d done to help him on the Mystery Train!

“Your phone backs up all of its data on a cloud server,” he continued, “which you gift-wrapped access to. Did you know that the cloud server doesn't permanently delete deleted files for a full week? There were a lot of interesting things that we found.”

Kaito could guess. His disguises. Blueprints of places he’d stolen from. Bird view photographs he had been planning to hold a heist on. Kaito swallowed. He’d deleted everything, but for these people to have gained access to it all so easily… they were either part of some organisation, or they were secret police.

“Don’t worry,” said the guy, which had Kaito snapping his head up, “we won’t turn you in. We just want a deal.” He jerked his head and Subaru nodded, walking past him and out the main door. “See? He’s gone too.”

Kaito pressed the capsule between his fingers – one against one was better odds than one against two –

“And I’d wait till you hear me out before you try and knock me out. Besides, if you do that, then a friend of mine will have no problem sending all the evidence to your kind neighbour, Nakamori, or to the PSB. I’m sure they’d love to know your family history.”

That rankled him no matter how much he’d like to deny it. Kaito sucked in a deep breath. “Go on.”

* * *

Nearly two hours later, Kaito sat down on his sofa with his head held in his hands. And a sob barely held in. Frustration was strumming through his body.

“Dammit!”

_ Fuck! _ To think he’d just been blackmailed. Fucking hell. He wanted to curse out loud, but he held it in. Poker face, poker face… He took in a few deep breaths. Hysteria was bubbling up in his chest – how had it gone so wrong?

_ Bloody Tantei-kun. I can’t believe you went to the FBI with this. _

At least he wasn’t the FBI's lapdog though. He’d blurted out the whole story about his father’s death when the masked guy – he’d remained nameless till the end, the fucker – had started railing into his utterly stupid methods of battling a crime organisation, and hadn’t gotten anything in the form of sympathy. Just a raised eyebrow and a casual assurance that his father’s murderer would be caught along with the rest of the syndicate as long as he cooperated. 

Still, that was fine. The most humiliating thing was that his “handler” would be that kid. Edogawa Conan. A freaking seven-year-old child! Kaito had objected, of course he had, but the man didn’t care one bit.

“Neither of us will ever be in contact with you again. We will not recognise you should we happen to meet, neither should you,” he had said. 

In a way, that was good. The less he had to see of them, the better. It didn’t mean that he was happy about being told to take orders from a child; Conan might be only conveying it, but still, from a  _ child. _ They had known exactly where to poke, and it hurt. 

After a long while, Kaito stood up, walked into the bathroom and washed his face.  _ Alright, _ he told himself,  _ you made a mistake. A stupid fucking mistake, and it’s landed you in deep shit, but it’s handled.  _

He kept reminding himself of that little tidbit.  _ It’s handled. _

His phone pinged from the living room. A message had come:

_ Yo, Kuroba. You know who I am, save the number. Meet me tomorrow after your school ends at Ekoda Park. _

Kaito gave a low laugh. So this was how it was going to be – short texts, pure business. Suddenly, the fondness he had for the cute little kid – dangerous, tricky and frighteningly clever – but still, cute kid, had all disappeared.

Kaito swiped at the screen to enter the number into his contacts, hesitated for a moment, and then finally inputted the name.  _ Edogawa-kun. _

* * *

Shinichi pulled the seatbelt across his shoulder and turned the key in the ignition. After the car was out on the main road, the person sitting next to him slowly took off their glasses and pinched a button in their shirt, deflating the frame abruptly. The wig was summarily taken off and the face mask peeled. 

“It’s lucky our guy across the street is easy to make a mask for, and that you have access to your mom’s makeup supplies. Or else how would you have done this?”

“It was necessary to be done. I need as many hands as I can get.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

Shinichi turned and smiled. It wasn’t visible because of the mask, but the corner of his eyes crinkled enough to indicate it. “Are you troubled by the blackmail, Haibara? Wasn’t that how you first met me?”

Miyano Shiho lowered her eyes, “Yes. I’m not a good person, though; I didn't expect you to do this.”

Shinichi hummed. “You’ve grown to like him.”

She shrugged.

“Because he disguised himself as you on the Mystery Train?” Shinichi chuckled, “He was blackmailed then too, by the way.” He accelerated slowly as they moved onto a highway. “I’m a good detective, which sometimes means using unconventional ways to arrive at the solution. Even blackmail.”

“Modesty doesn’t suit you.”

At that, he laughed. “You’re right. I’m a brilliant detective. Besides, blackmail isn’t the most outrageous thing I’ve done.”

“What could be more?” She’d pulled on a face mask similar to Shinichi’s now. “Hurry, the voice-altering choker is itchy and this older version requires to be undone from behind.”

Shinichi slowed down instead and gestured for her to bend forward. His fingers nimbly unclasped the choker from her exposed neck. “There you go. I’d rather not speed up since I don’t actually have a license, you know.”

“So?”

“Ah… I’ve once shot at a thief – this was about two years ago, and completely off record. I wasn’t supposed to be on the scene, just flying by.”

“Did the thief die?”

“I missed.”

“Oh,” she blinked, “who was it?”

Shinichi shook his head. “No clue. I asked Megure-keibu back then, but he was a little caught up in other things. Never bothered to find out later.”

“Yet you still remember it.”

“I don’t forget any of my cases,” Shinichi said, “but yes, I remember it. It was… that thief was something else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been literal years since i've written a long fic for any fandom! I'll be trying to update this as regularly as i can tho! it'd be great if y'all would leave a review for me - they're my fuel to keep writing *makes puppy eyes*
> 
> Let me know how you liked it!
> 
> 11/7/20: Minor edits, corrected typos


	2. Kaito really doesn’t like his new handler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of blackmail is never very pretty - and mentally taxing, too, as Kaito discovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! I'm surprised myself at how quickly I updated it - fingers crossed for this to continue!  
> Also were you expecting consistent chapter legnths? I have no clue where this story is going, let alone the word count lmao. But either way, enjoy!

After his meet-up with Edogawa at the park, where they’d established a short backstory should anyone from their civilian lives wonder how they were acquainted, Kaito hadn’t been in contact with him for weeks. Meanwhile, school continued as always; Hakuba returned back from England, Akako was still turning up to class and remaining absent as she pleased and Aoko… well, Aoko was positively exuberant. 

“You don’t get it Bakaito! Kaitou Kid hasn’t had a heist in so long, Otou-san’s been coming home early nowadays!”

That always made his heart clench with guilt. Her happiness would continue for a little longer though, because Kaito was in no mood for heists. Edogawa had put no limitation over his moonlighting as a thief, but that didn’t mean that going out as KID wouldn’t now make him feel vulnerable. Exposed. 

So yeah, no heists for a while, not even a peek outside of his neighbourhood to be truthful. He’d been sitting at home and minding his business very diligently. Which is why when Jii-san brought up the transport of another big jewel into the city museum, Kaito was caught by surprise.

“It was in the newspaper, Bocchama!”

Kaito took the proffered newspaper and frowned, “I haven’t exactly been paying attention to the news lately.”

Konnosuke Jii sighed, “Well, take a look now – security has been increased around the gem already, it seems like they’re expecting Kaitou Kid to take an interest in it.”

Undoubtedly Nakamori-keibu’s work.  _ To steal or not to steal, that is the question…  _

“Well, I’ll go take a peep at the museum first. See how things look.”

Since Kaito hadn’t told Jii-san about the visit he got from the FBI yet, it was difficult to explain his hesitation to hold a heist, but Jii-san acquiesced to wait a while longer in the end. He went as himself. Half an hour of peering at various marble busts and jewelry sets locked in glass boxes later, he moved towards the main exhibit. There was a long queue and everyone had to undergo a manual search before entering the room that held the gem.

Kaito snorted.  _ If this is minimal security on suspicion that Kaitou Kid may target it, I wonder what they’ll cook up if I actually send out a heist note. _

“Ladies, step this way please – behind the curtain, thank you! Sir, please raise your hands. If you have a phone make sure to switch it off, place anything metallic on you into this basket.”

Kaito obligingly raised his hands for the harried-looking officer to scan him. He rifled through his pockets to come up with a bunch of coins, a brooch, two bendy paper clips and a pen. “Phone’s off. Must I give my coins and clip and pen?”

“No, no, that’s fine!”

He was waved ahead and Kaito smiled, pocketing them. The pen he clasped onto his shirt pocket. Immediately after entering the room, he took stock of the exits, and nooks and crannies. There were two doors, one which he had entered through, another on its right when facing the display – which was exactly in the centre, of course it was – no windows, no pillars. A chandelier hung on either side of the display, and that was it. Two police officers were at each exit, one near the jewel and two more roaming about, no doubt making sure only a set number of people approached the gem. Barely a minute had passed since his eyes swept the room and Kaito subconsciously relaxed. So far, so –

“Fancy seeing you here, Kuroba.”

Shit! Kaito twitched violently before stilling. “Hakuba.” 

Hakuba Saguru, his second-most annoying classmate – the first would always be Akako, no competition – smiled at him. “Come to see the display, have you? Why don’t you share your thoughts with me.”

It wasn’t a question. Kaito narrowed his eyes. “I’m not in the mood. Go bother someone else.” 

The blond detective didn’t seem to get the hint. He stuck by him as Kaito approached the stand, listening to the museum employee as she went into a monotonous diatribe of its history, and after making a circuit of the room to admire some of the paintings hung on the walls, he even accompanied him back out.

“Really Hakuba, you’re that desperate for attention?” Kaito said, giving a particularly mean smile as he increased his pace, “Please go bother someone else, I’m done with you.”

Hakuba’s steps didn’t falter, easily keeping up. “You seem to be done with everyone this past week. Or is it longer? I’m sure it cannot be my return that put you in such a foul mood–”

“Oh? You're sure, are you?”

“–and your last heist brought you face to face with Edogawa-kun.” Kaito grit his teeth, but Hakuba continued on, not noticing. “Which usually leaves you in higher spirits than usual–”

“Shut up.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said, shut up!”

They were on the streets now and some passers-by looked at them weirdly but Kaito was beyond caring. He grabbed a handful of Hakuba’s coat and dragged him closer.

“Watch it!”

“No,  _ you _ watch it,” Kaito whispered, soft and menacing, “I’m  _ not _ KID, will you just stop saying that? I’m done with your accusations, I’ve had it up to my neck and –”

_ Bzzz. Bzzz. _

Kaito abruptly let go. His phone was vibrating. Shit, he’d not actually switched it off after all. Hakuba looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask ‘aren’t you going to answer that?’. Honestly, Kaito didn’t want to check. Just in case it was…

It was. Kaito refrained the urge to groan.

“Who is it?” Was that concern Kaito could detect? Ha. If Hakuba ever learnt of what had happened, he’d probably only be disappointed that  _ he _ hadn’t gotten to the proof of his identity first. Then, he’d gloat.

“None of your business.” 

Kaito disappeared into the crowd with practised ease, swiping to accept the call the moment he was out of sight.

“Hello?”

“Are you going to be holding the heist at Utsukushi Museum?”

“What, do I have to report that as well now?” That urge to throttle the kid had returned. 

“No.” How dare he sound so blaise and unconcerned, the little shit. “I just thought that you’d like to know you’re not the only one after it.”

“What?”

Edogawa sighed, “Didn’t you say it yourself? There are others who are looking for large uncut gems?”

Kaito’s grip tightened on his phone. Yes, he had told the man – not Edogawa though, but perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised if his whole life story was now spread like juicy gossip through the entire FBI force – he’d told them about Snake and Rose and Spider. Told them of the type of gems they were looking for and how he wanted to foil their plans by getting a hand on it first. The fact that they also were here to check out this gem… wait.

“How do you know?”

“The museum is situated right across a hotel and is about ten minutes away from two other small inns and a public bathing house. Where do you think someone who wants to steal the gem will want to set up camp?” And then, without warning, “That’s all I had to say. I’ll be going now.”

“Wait–” Kaito said, but the line was dead. He pulled the phone from his ear to look at it blankly. What just happened? Had Edogawa just… given him helpful information? The duality of being held on a leash by a third party and being helped by them in a way that seemed like equal partnership – it jarred him.

Nevertheless, information was information. 

* * *

When Kaito returned a couple hours later under a disguise, he’d formulated a plan. He’d taken a while to parse through the talk he’d had with the brat and realised that all he’d been given was the certainty of Snake’s presence. Or someone from the organisation. Edogawa had spouted some bull about inns and hotels but he hadn’t exactly told him where they were. It made him wonder how he’d found out – whether he even had a confirmation in the first place, or if it was just a hunch.

“Let’s check the hotel first,” Kaito mused, adjusting his wig delicately as he walked into the reception area. 

Should he ask for a room – he had brought cash with him for a night’s stay – or should he just go to the restaurant? Maybe make up an excuse about meeting up with a friend… he had a general idea of what Snake looked like. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Excuse me,” Kaito smiled charmingly at the receptionist, who only stared back balefully, “I’m looking for a friend. He’s got a room here – and I know, policy of not giving away guest details! – but could I wait in a lounge or the restaurant meanwhile? He’s sure to come down soon.”

The man behind the counter blinked. “The restaurant’s out back, you’re welcome to order. But I’d advise you to leave if your friend doesn’t turn up in half an hour.”

Kaito nodded understandingly, that was expected. Alright then…

“Ah, but I haven’t met him in years, I don’t even have his number. How about I describe him for you and you let me know if he comes down?”

The receptionist sighed but nodded, “Sure.”

Kaito gave a brief description. Tall, broad shoulders, dark skin, dark hair – like half the Japanese population, Kaito despaired – “And oh, he’d probably be wearing all black!”

At that, the receptionist perked up. “You don’t say, sir! Your friend anticipated your arrival!”

_...what. _

“He’s left a message with us, said his friend would come and ask for him… ah, it’s a good thing you mentioned the black clothing, really, he told us you’ll make a point of it–”

_ What the hell? Shit, was Snake laying in wait for him? Did he expect him to actually coming looking – when the hell did he – why would he – _

“Here it is!” The man pulled out a slip of paper from a notebook, “Edogawa-san, room no. 204!”

Kaito’s internal panicking came to an abrupt halt. He gave an automatic thanks as the receptionist waved him towards the lift, disbelief warring with surprise as he got off on the second floor, walked down the corridor and knocked on the correct door.

Kaito had to look down to meet the eyes of who opened the door. Because of course it was him. Of course.

Edogawa ran his eyes over Kaito’s disguise and nodded approvingly – as if he needed approval! 

“You took your sweet time,” said the brat, opening the door an inch further to let him in. 

Kaito edged inside the room and stopped in surprise. There were three laptops set up, hooked to various power points in the room. The centre table had a map spread on it, and what seemed like the hotel’s knick-knacks and decorations were used as paperweights to hold it down. On the bed, a small duffel bag with clothes was strewn open, along with several microphones and transceivers. It looked like the prep he usually did for a heist, only with less items to perform a trick and more to deconstruct one. 

Kaito glanced at the tiny detective, who’d hopped up onto a chair, scrolling through some kind of document on one of the laptops. He had way too many questions and set about demanding answers.

“What’s all this?”

“What do you think?”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it!” Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “How did you know I’d come here anyway?”

“Of course you’d come,” Edogawa scoffed, “After the information I gave you, you’d want to check out the place yourself. At least, if you were smart.”

Kaito bristled.  _ Poker face, _ he reminded himself. He was having difficulty with that in the presence of Edogawa lately, and for good reason, but still. 

“Any good detective begins by scoping out the crime scene,” Edogawa continued, “or as it happens to be the case here, a potential crime scene. A thief does much the same. I don’t think you’d have the same resources as I do, though. Or make use of it to its full abilities.”

That… was true. He’d been using most of his dad’s old equipment, and stuff Jii-san could his hands on from discrete buyers. None of them were expensive, since there was only a limited amount of money stored up from his dad’s old thieving days, even if it had been accumulating interest for eight years in the bank. Jii-san did have an inventor friend who occasionally modified gadgets for them, at an absurdly low price. Thank god for Jii-san’s connections – because Kaito had brought nothing into the thieving business but his wits. 

_ And sometimes not even that, considering the mess I’m in. _ Kaito thought of his remaining pride and how much it stung having to accept this, but he shrugged and pushed it back. Later.

“I was under the impression I’m the one who’d be helping you with investigations,” Kaito said lightly as he took a seat on the bed opposite Edogawa. “But here you are offering to… what exactly is it that you’re offering anyway?”

Edogawa looked up from his screen, “Let’s not get mistaken. This is still a mission I’m in charge of.”

“If it’s a heist, then there’s no way you’re in charge of any –” 

“Heist?” Edogawa cut him off, “I don’t care about that. I’m here for the guys in black chasing after you. You can do whatever tricks you want to, but the moment they step on to the playing field, you follow what I say.”

_ No, _ Kaito thought, jaw clenching, _ not at a heist, I won’t. _ “This wasn’t what we’d discussed.” 

“This is exactly what we’d discussed. You use your skills to supplement any mission I call you in for. In return, your identity remains safe.”

Kaito got up, “Call him.”

“What?”

“That guy! Call him, I want to talk to him – I did not agree to do what you say when it comes to a heist, outside of a heist –”

“What,” said Edogawa, “exactly is it that you’re pissed about? Didn’t I already say you can do what tricks you want until those men step in? Although, I’m not sure you’d want to do your usual tricks because of the danger your fans might be in… this isn’t a normal heist, after all.”

Kaito closed his eyes. That was true. It wasn’t a normal heist, those men in black were dangerous. It was… good, in a way, that he had a detective to back him up. Especially since Edogawa had experience counteracting them. 

What then, was the problem? 

The whole situation was wrong. Kaito finally acknowledged what had been troubling him. The weeks of anticipation of being called upon by Edogawa, the uncertainty of his identity being in the hands of someone he didn’t trust, the toll the blackmail was taking on him, and the fact that when he finally had to work with that brat, it was at his heist.

_ His _ heist. Kaitou Kid’s heist. Now going to be run by a detective. Kaito gave a resigned laugh, this was like the case with Nightmare all over again. A mastermind running his show, and he himself a puppet. 

_ Only, with Nightmare, it was pretend. But this time, it was real. _

“Okay,” Kaito said, “okay. Fine, sure. Whatever you say.”

Edogawa scrutinised him for another moment – as if waiting to see if he’d throw a tantrum – which was rich, considering which of them was a child in this situation. Then he went back to his scrolling. Kaito meanwhile took a look at the map on the centre table; it turned out to be blueprints of the hotel instead. One of the rooms on the fourth floor was circled, Kaito supposed that’s where Snake was. How he found out about it was another question, but he decided not to waste time asking.

His inclination to spend time bantering with whom he used to once call  _ Tantei-kun _ affectionately had decreased drastically. A notebook was propped open beside the prints and Kaito quickly took a look. 

Transcripts, Kaito realised with surprise. None of it was particularly very important to him, but he supposed it was important to the detective. A few conversations noted mentioned Snake by name, along with a few other people. None of whom had codenames, but the names the answered to might as well be fake. 

“Do you have a recording of this?”

Edogawa gave it a glance. “Yeah, the laptop by the bedside table. Put in the earphones, you can hear what they’re saying. Recording is saved by the hour in a folder called S-BO-K on the desktop.”

Kaito almost chuckled at the simplistic naming – English letters to denote the key-players of this operation, but they wouldn’t make sense to someone who didn’t know it. Kaito didn’t hear anyone speak when he wore the headphones, so he moved over to the folder and played the first audio clip.

_ Tantei-kun, ah, you’re sometimes very scarily competent. You used to be so good too, before… _

Before. Before those FBI dogs came into his life. 

He used to wonder how Edogawa had gotten mixed up with the FBI for the first few days, then he remembered that Edogawa’s parents were said to be in America. Or possibly, they were part of the FBI themselves. And maybe when they had a kid, they’d decided to dump him in Japan to continue their work… only Edogawa was smart, way too smart to remain a child uninvolved in matters. Probably they decided early recruitment wasn’t so bad – he got involved in plenty of murder cases anyway. 

How long did it take for  _ him _ to become a pawn of the FBI? Was he even given a choice? 

Kaito had felt bad for him for exactly one day before meeting up with him and seeing the abrupt 180 degree change his personality had gone through. He didn’t talk in the cute manner he used to previously, nor did he dumb down stuff to make sure that no one heard a kid talk about things too advanced for his age. Most of all, their dynamic had changed. He was no longer Kaitou Kid’s rival, the Kid Killer, beloved of the masses for having thwarted Kid by being “precocious” and “difficult to fool”, unlike the task force. 

Kaitou Kid was now his handyman, to be called upon when in need of his skills, and disregarded when not. 

“Oi, come here and take a look at this.”

Kaito paused the audio; there wasn’t much of anything of importance anyway. Everything of use had been transcribed by Edogawa in his notes. He accepted the laptop and scrolled through. It looked like… 

“Is this a criminal profile of Snake?” Kaito’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“From the Interpol database, yes,” Edogawa said, as if he wasn’t completely shattering Kaito’s world view.  _ Interpol? _ Yeah, his theory of Edogawa’s parents being FBI seemed more probable by the minute. “He was arrested under the name Nara Hiroki and managed to escape when he was being transported from one jail to another. Blew up an entire street and none of the officers escorting him survived. He was a pretty notorious jewel thief, and can be said to discern the fake from the real goods with just a look.”

“That’s probably how he caught the attention of the organisation,” Kaito summed up. That’s how his dad was sought for as well – an extraordinary skill set. “They helped him escape, and in return he thieves for them.”

“Correct.”

There were a few more pages on his history and the crimes he’d committed, which Kaito forgoed reading.

“So how does this help us?”

Edogawa grinned sharply. “You’ll find out at the heist. Send out a notice for tonight.”

“Tonight? No one will decode a notice that quickly –”

“Why does it have to be a riddle?”

_ Because that’s my M.O. _

“If I recall correctly, the first few heists after the reappearance of KID were simple advance notices.”

_ Yeah, ‘cause that was Jii-san. _

“Do that this time. We must strike tonight. You should be able to pull off a heist in a short notice if you don't do any flashy tricks, right?”

“Of course I can,” Kaito said, “but what’s the hurry?”

Edogawa looked at him solemnly, “You didn’t start with the latest audio clip, did you?”

Kaito felt a trickle of apprehension. “What does it say?”

“Snake mentions a colleague joining him in two days. Spider.”

_ Spider _ .

The one adversary of his who genuinely terrified him. Kaito felt his fingers tremble and he clenched them into fists. “Yeah, okay. Tonight it is.”

* * *

“How long will Conan-kun be staying with you, Hakase?” Ran asked on the phone.

“Ah,” Agasa Hakase exchanged a glance with his little charge, Haibara Ai, “the whole weekend, I think Ai-chan and him have been wanting to go to that science convention with me, so I thought I could take him. Of course, I’ll send him to school directly from here on Monday.”

“Oh, alright, that sounds good! Tell him to have fun, and oh, tell him to text me once a day at least.”

“Of course, Ran-kun.”

Agasa Hakase sighed as the call ended. “Really, what is Shinichi-kun getting into now? He made me take a whole suitcase full of,” he lowered his voice, “microphones and trackers, and book a room in a hotel.”

Haibara sighed, “It’s his new thing with Kid.”

“I do wish he’d let us help out more. Monitoring stuff from home isn’t really reassuring.”

“You won’t persuade him this time, Hakase,” Haibara smiled secretively, “He was already reluctant enough about me accompanying him to meet Kid. I’ve already seen his face and I don’t think he wants anyone else to.”

“True,” he sighed, “that boy, he tries to keep too many secrets.” His glance went to the window overlooking the Kudo residence. A curtain moved slightly on the second floor. “Well, let’s see if my bug-chips have found something!”

“You have a weird naming sense for your inventions, Hakase.”

“Hey, those work – they are tiny bug-shaped microchips. They can even fly! What else would I call them?”

“Anything but  _ bug-chips, _ Hakase _. _ Anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaito experiencing Shinichi's version of identity reveal panic, basically. And it's only just started *whistles innocently*  
> Leave me a review! I live off them now, please feed me, thanks :D
> 
> 11/7/20: Minor edits, corrected typos


	3. Set a thief to catch a thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A detective and a thief plan out a robbery

Konosuke Jii did not understand the hurry Kaito Bocchama was in to hold the heist that very night. But something was troubling him and he vowed to ask once they got home.

“Receiving loud and clear, check.”

“Check,” Jii replied. 

Kaito gave him a finger countdown and on zero, he launched a dummy into the air, glider snapping open as it flew in the general direction of the museum. Perhaps sensing the lowkey advance notice, the task force themselves hadn’t made a huge announcement of it, but the sheer number of police surrounding the place certainly drew notice. The whole street had been cordoned off and all stores had been ordered to close by 6 pm. 

While the decoy captured their attention, Kaito let himself up the museum wall, climbing up with the help of a rainwater drainage pipe running the length of it to the roof. He was dressed in an outfit of the same off white colour as the museum was painted, and didn’t catch notice till he’d already reached the roof. Then, the chase began.

Jii-san pulled away the binoculars from his eyes. “Good luck, Bocchama.”

* * *

Kaito had two earpieces for this heist, which was new. One of course, connected to Jii-san. The other connected to Edogawa, who was currently sitting in his room in the hotel opposite, tracking his movements via the third laptop he’d brought.

“You could just use one and switch between screens, you know?” Kaito had suggested that afternoon, after they’d gone over their plans and Kaito had wrested back control over how the heist would be conducted with Edogawa on line as overseer.

“I need all the programs running simultaneously and need to refer to them without interference,” Edogawa had said, “Besides, the museum’s blueprints are already downloaded on this one.”

Kaito had muttered something uncharitable about rich kids that Edogawa had blithely ignored. His voice now crackled in his ears.

“Hakuba’s inside.”

Ah. Kaito had forgotten to account for that, since he didn’t think that Tantei-san would have been able to hear about it and arrive in time for it though. No matter, that was a bullet he could dodge easily. 

In the moment it took him to lose his pursuers, he’d gassed one officer and switched clothes with him, and walked out of the corridor with a new walkie-talkie in hand, Officer Kazuki’s face applied over his. He cleared his throat, pitching his voice deeper. “I lost Kid down E wing! I think he turned right and has gone towards the old poetry exhibition section!”

“Password,” barked a voice immediately. 

Ah, Nakamori. That was the security for today; everyone had been given a personal password to use before they made their reports. Unfortunately, that meant as long as he heard someone report, he could easily identify what it was.

“14 Rosemary.”

A pause. Then – “Wrong!”

What, shit – he’d heard it correctly though –!

“Twenty one,” a voice hissed in his ear. 

“Ah-ah, 21 Rosemary! Sorry, sorry, slipped –”

“Correct,” Nakamori said grudgingly, “Team B head down to E wing and take alternate routes –”

Kaito sighed in relief and pulled his finger off the receiver. He surreptitiously glanced around a corner and seeing it empty, continued. Edogawa had hacked into the CCTV cameras in the museum a while ago. The ease of it had baffled Kaito – but apparently, the police rarely ever changed their password patterns, so it wasn’t much of a hardship to guess – which made Kaito wonder when exactly had a police officer pulled aside a little kid to show them their password pattern. 

The upside of it was that Kaito now had advance notice if anyone was coming towards him. The downside was that he had to find blind spots to change his disguises in. Also, he couldn’t speak into his earpieces freely without alerting the person monitoring the cameras and making them wonder whom he was talking to. But still… 

“How did you know it was 21?”

“If the first code was wrong, that means it was a double cipher,” Edogawa replied promptly, “it could have been simple progression, but you’ve barely entered inside. Surely he hadn’t had time to give out 14 reports. Same for multiples of 2 – seven reports was too much. Also, the person noting down and making sure the correct password is spoken will have trouble managing so many messages, so they must have prioritised personal security over continuous communication, trusting in their cameras to pick up the smaller details.”

Kaito hummed in agreement. “So if we’d cut off their CCTV connection…”

“They probably would have switched to a simpler password which allowed multiple usages. Maybe just  _ Rosemary _ . As such, if it isn’t an addition of 1, or a multiple of 2, then it’s a multiple of 7. Thankfully, 14 only has few common multiples.” *  


“Huh.” Kaito could appreciate good detective work, more so when it was working for him instead of against. “Thanks, Edogawa-kun.”

Then, he ducked into a corner, swiftly changing clothes once more, but leaving the mask on. He didn’t have too many masks to cycle through because of the short prep time they had. The jewel room was about two rooms away now, all he had to do was cross into the D wing and make it past the guard –

“KID,” Edogawa spoke suddenly, “Hakuba’s off camera.”

“What do you mean by –”

“9:13:00 pm.” 

Kaito entered the passageway into the D wing only to come face to face with his classmate.

Hakuba gave him a smirk. “I knew you couldn’t have veered in the opposite direction when you already notified us that the jewel will be gone as the clock is ‘struck in half’. And seeing how the cameras are still functioning and the lights haven’t gone off, I assume you have a man on the inside already. Pity that you were facing off against me, KID.”

_ Actually, _ Kaito thought, _ I haven’t really been doing anything yet. This was Edogawa you’re facing off against so far.  _

Time to bring Kaitou Kid on to the game board. 

“Tantei-san, I’d love to stay and chat, but as you said, I have places to be, appointments to keep. I bid you adieu for now~”

Hakuba lunged forward, but by then the whole passage was filled with smoke. “KID!”

But KID was long gone. Flicking on the other receiver in his ear, he called out, “Jii-san!”

“CCTVs going off in six… five… four… three…”

Kaito grinned, snapped his goggles and mask into place and threw out a new canister. By the time the officers in front of the jewel room had time to recover, they were already taken by surprise. 

“Ahh – my eyes! Shit, hold him, he went that way –”

“He’s not here!”

“That – no – that’s not KID, that’s Uemura! Let him go!”

“Hey stop!”

“Quick, check the jewel case!”

But of course, the jewel case was empty. A man quietly disappeared from the shadows amidst the confusion.

* * *

Kaito stood on the balcony that faced the public park behind the museum. The park was shut of course, Nakamori-keibu always made sure to lockdown public parks or ice-rinks or even lakes after the numerous times he’s employed methods other than hang gliding away to escape. But right now, he wasn’t focused on escaping. No, he was waiting.

Waiting for the star of the show to arrive. And sure enough…

“Hand over the jewel, KID.”

Kaito turned, poker face in place, “What jewel?”

Snake snarled, pulling a gun out of his coat, “Don’t play games! The jewel, hand over the jewel!”

“Ah, ah, that’s twice a gun’s been pulled on me this month, you know,” Kaito sighed, lifting his hands obediently, jewel clasped in a hand, “I’m getting real tired, real quick.” He threw the jewel to Snake, “By the by, where’s your usual posse? Didn’t come to greet me?”

“Oh, I had a full welcoming committee ready for you,” Snake smiled nastily, holding up the jewel, “Your old pal Spider was coming to pay a visit, it’s a pity I’ll have to deprive him of that pleasure. But I thank you for this – really saved us some wor–”

He paused, squinting at the gem. Kaito counted down the minutes, the banter had gone on long enough.

“It’s a replica!”

“Bingo!”

He pulled the trigger and Kaito yelped, dodging. The shot went wide and he snarled.

“Where’s the real one?”

Kaito didn’t bother to wait and chat. Hooking a rope to the balcony, he swung to the floor below and ducked into the window waiting open for him.  _ Thanks, Jii-san. _

“Hey, now’d be a good time to get some help!” Kaito stuffed away his hat and cape, and changed into his off white overalls again, blending in with the wall.

“Don’t fly, it’s easier to shoot at flying objects since they can’t change direction. Don’t run straight down a corridor either, zig zag your way through –”

“I already know all that!”

“Good, then I’ll see you at the hotel.”

“Oi, no, stop, what about Snake?”

But there was no more answer. Edogawa had cut off connection. Kaito cursed and clicked his other receiver. 

“Jii-san, you get in and out safe?”

“Yes, Bocchama,” Jii-san replied promptly, “It helped that I reviewed the footage the pen-recorder took earlier today, the jewel is in the briefcase and I’m waiting at our pick up point.”

“No need, make your way home, I’ll meet you tomorrow.”

“Are you sure, Bocchama?”

“Yes!”

A pause. “Very well. And may I say, that was a good illusion on the case, Bocchama.”

Kaito felt a grin stretch across his face, “Thanks, Jii-san.”

It took Kaito a few near misses and half an hour to reach the hotel room. When he picked the lock and entered, he got the answer as to why Edogawa hadn’t opened the door when he knocked. 

“Where the hell is he?”

The laptops had all been shut off and the blueprints on the table rolled up. Everything was nearly packed up. Yet there was no Tantei-kun. There was a moment of doubt whether those men in black had caught hold of him – but that was absurd, there was no sign of struggle and he was pretty sure Edogawa wouldn’t leave any trail leading back to him. It was likely that he’d just gone out of the room for some reason.

“Well, if you’re going to take your own sweet time, I’ll be borrowing your shower.”

Kaito had a couple of scrapes to take care of and he was in dire need of a hot bath. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to bathe after that rush of adrenaline he’d had, tiredness seeping into his bones. Because while he wasn’t sure when he’d dozed off in the bathtub, he had a rather rude awakening, alerting him back to reality when his cheek got pinched and pulled.

“Ow, ow, ow! I’m awake!” Kaito blinked and came face to face with Edogawa Conan, who was glaring down at him.

“Barou! You fell asleep in the tub!”

“Ahh…” Kaito blinked some more, trying to get his bearings, “Ah, yes, the bath… I’ll get out now – ah! Get out!” 

The tiny detective gave him the stink eye, like he couldn’t  _ believe _ Kaito fell asleep in the bath – completely disregarding the fact that he was  _ in the bath _ and thus naked. Kaito shooed him away. He’d been way too vulnerable before the other detective to give up this piece of dignity now.

“Be out in five minutes, stat.”

“Yes sir,” Kaito deadpanned, and Edogawa finally left. 

Kaito pushed his hair out of his eyes, sweeping it back from his forehead. His arms were aching with all the acrobatics he’d pulled off; climbing that drainage pipe hadn’t been easy. He twisted his arm to take a look at his scraped elbows – yep, nicely peeled off skin. Finally, the water felt too cold to be sitting in. Draining the bathtub, Kaito reached for a towel to dry off, wondering where he could find a first aid kit. Or even some bandages. And his eyes landed on the tiny kit on the side of the washbasin.

Had that always been there? Was he too tired to notice it when he first came in?

“Oi, Kuroba! Have you fallen asleep again?”

Kaito sighed. “I’m awake. Geez, I’ll be right out.”

He quickly changed into the spare jeans and shirt he’d kept in the room – foresight, bless her – and slapped on two bandaids from the first aid kit. Leaving the now chilly bathroom, he stepped inside the hotel suite. The heater was on, Edogawa had now packed up all his belongings and was lounging in an armchair with a book. 

“Ready to leave?”

Edogawa glanced at him, “Of course not. The police are still patrolling outside, it would be foolish to leave.”

Kaito raised an eyebrow.  _ As if you don’t have a contingency plan _ , he was going to say and then he remembered the suitcase full of laptops and other devices he shouldn’t be possessing. He nodded in understanding.

“Well, I’ll be leaving then.”

“Actually, no.”

“What now?” Kaito thought he’d gotten quite used to this to feel resigned instead of irritated. Well, improvement to some degree.

“I need you to disguise as Agasa Hakase to sign out from the hotel. You should have enough experience in that.”

Kaito glared at the reminder of that disaster of a heist.  _ Enough experience. _ And he still had been found out. And cornered. And then – 

He stopped himself before he went down that train of thought. “Alright.”

Then, since they weren’t going anywhere and it had been a long day, he made his way to the bed. He was going to sleep. With a veritable stranger in the room and most of his KID gear bundled up on the sofa, but what had Edogawa-kun not seen of him by now? 

“Don’t mind me taking your bed.”

“Go ahead, there’s enough room for both of us.”

True, it was a double bed. Edogawa sure had gotten an expense suite. Yet there he was, stuck in that chair the whole day, not even enjoying it. That reminded him –

“Where were you?”

“Hm?”

“You told me to meet you here, and you weren’t here yourself when I came.” Kaito fluffed up the pillows and pulled up the quilt, leaning against the headboard comfortably. “Where had you gone?”

“Oh, that. To Snake’s room obviously.” 

Kaito sat up straight, “What?! To his  _ room? _ What if someone had been there – you could have blown this entire thing up!”

“I had visuals inside the room all the time, and in the whole corridor. And the hotel. Besides, you confirmed for me that he was with you, obviously his men would be somewhere in the museum as well.” Edogawa gave him a sardonic smile. “Was that concern I heard, Kuroba?”

Kaito clicked his mouth shut. Then, “Most certainly not. It was sheer disbelief that after all the cautioning you had me do, you go and do something reckless like that!”

“Sometimes one needs to make reckless decisions. Besides,” Edogawa put down his book, “I wasn’t working alone and I have back up plans for my back up plans.”

The slight insult in the comment grated at him. Everything about Edogawa grated at him now. “You very well know that I don't rush in blindly. And that I have an assistant.”

“I’m well aware,” his tone softened, “I see that you didn't return with the gem yourself. I’ll make sure he won’t be harmed.”

“You stay away from him”, Kaito said curtly, snuggling into the bed and closing his eyes. “That's all I need.”

When there was no reply after a while, Kaito opened his eyes to look at him. Edogawa had a look of surprise on his face, and what looked like a hint of sadness. Suddenly, he looked unbelievably young. And then the expression was gone, smoothed over with the same cool aloof look he’d been using since their new arrangement. 

“I’ll stay away from him,” came the agreement at last.

Kaito nodded an acknowledgement. “And tell him to do so as well.”

“Who?”

“Don’t be fucking oblivious!” Edogawa jolted at the curse, “There’s only one  _ him, _ okay?”

Edogawa gulped. “Okay.”

“So tell him. Stay the fuck away from my assistant.”

“He won’t go after your family.”

Kaito scoffed, remembering the casual mention of his mother, of the Nakamoris, the two men standing in his house with a gun leveled at him. “So you think.”

“You’re not the only one who knows him.” 

Kaito looked at the kid. He didn’t know what to think of him. How much blame lied on him? How much lied on circumstance? 

“Okay then, tell me, Edogawa-kun, what kind of person is he?” Kaito held up a hand, “Actually, no, let’s begin with this – what is his name?”

Edogawa’s face paled. Kaito laughed, “Oh, so he’s nameless, faceless and controlling your actions and you think you  _ know _ him?”

That seemed to hit a sore spot. Edogawa turned his face away, but Kaito didn't plan on relenting. “Tell me then, do you truly know him? Do you know what kind of person he is?”

“I’m going to bed.” 

Kaito wanted to laugh more, but he had a feeling that if he would start, he wouldn't be able to stop. He watched Edogawa walk woodenly to the bathroom, heard the water splashing in the basin and five minutes later when the kid returned, Kaito pretended to be asleep as Edogawa crawled into the bed from the other side. Neither of them spoke till morning. As for a good night’s sleep, he didn’t know about the kid, but Kaito’s sleep came in fits and bursts. By the time they woke up, Kaito was ready to go home. 

If he ever saw Edogawa again, it would be too soon.

* * *

“Sir, we were keeping an eye on all the exits. KID did not leave from there.”

“You idiots!” Snake roared, “he’s a disguise master, how would you know?”

None of them had a reply to that.

“Never mind, for now, we’ll have to tell Spider that the jewel’s gone, none of us got to check it and we even lost KID. Which of you volunteers?” Silence. “Huh, bunch of cowards.”

In the end, the one to place the call was Snake himself.

“Very well,” Spider said, unconcerned, “it matters not. Check the jewel as he returns it, if it’s a dud, we know he has the real deal. If it’s real, then it’s no use to us.”

“But, what of KID?”

“What of him?” Spider asked, “Did you manage to get a hold of him? No? Then stop simpering to me about it. I'm less concerned about half-penny worth artists like him than I'm about sleuths. If he begins to bother me, I'll simply track him down outside of his nightlife. If he begins to bother  _ you _ , well, handle it how you please. Or however much you’re capable of, I guess.”

Snake ended the call with a curse. 

“What now, aniki?”

“We have another jewel to track down,” Snake said at last, “we need to book a flight to Peru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * The password system mentioned - it's like the 7 times table; with each report the password changes like "7 Rosemary", "14 Rosemary, "21 Rosemary". We came up with this in school when we played a game called 'The Detective' and i suppose it was a good way to remember the tables? 
> 
> ...
> 
> If you're reading this and enjoying it, please leave me a comment! It really warms my heart and fuels me to keep writing! Thanks!


	4. Red roses, crimson blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kaito accidentally helps to solve a murder case

Kaito stared at the stack of papers on his desk. When Edogawa had said _you’ll find out at the heist_ apparently he meant _after_ the heist. 

They’d parted ways the next morning without much fanfare, letting the whole night’s debacle die in the hope that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ would smooth things over. And Kaito had been fine with that – he’d met up with Jii-san the next day and fended off questions about where he’d spent the night with minimal difficulty. 

Since the full moon wasn’t for a few days yet, he’d not returned the gem either. That had made him wonder about Snake and whether they would begin tracking his civilian persona down for the jewel, or whether Spider would arrive and do it himself.

Apparently, he had to worry about neither. Edogawa had spent time sleuthing while he was thieving, and apparently Snake was careless enough to leave things out in the open in a hotel room he’d paid for and believed to be secure. And the day after the full moon, as Kaito dropped off the jewel at Nakamori-keibu’s house by tucking it inside his grocery shopping, he’d received a text from Edogawa.

_Left you something in your shoe-locker at school. Check it out._

It was things like this that made Kaito seethe. The subtle insinuation that Edogawa had seeped into every corner of his life; nothing was his alone anymore. A zero privacy zone. 

Then he took a look at what he had received. It was a list of every jewel the organisation had already checked. Along with it was the list of what jewels Snake was planning on checking – for which his next destination was out of the country apparently. And Spider had decided not to fly over after all, considering _this_ gem was checked already. Kaito gaped unattractively for a long moment before he shook himself out of the stupor. 

_How did he even get this?_ And then Kaito remembered: FBI. They’d hacked into his phone, hacking into whatever device Snake had left behind shouldn’t have been a big deal. In fact, Kaito felt slightly more mollified now, knowing that Snake had “pathetically inadequate” security around critical information as well. 

Kaito stuffed the papers into his uniform pocket with a grin, “Today’s a good day!”

Two rows away, Hakuba turned to him with a scowl. “Do share the cause of your happiness, Kuroba. I’m in need of some cheering up whenever I see you.”

Kaito flipped him the finger, uncaring, because truly, he was happy. It wasn’t to say that he still wasn’t mad at the arrangement with the FBI – he definitely was – but having someone help him out with his own mission was… nice. 

And then, for two blessed months, Kaito saw neither hide nor hair of Edogawa.

* * *

“It’s a pretty famous troupe!”

Kaito elected to ignore Aoko as she wheedled him again to join her for what she called a “friendly gathering”. How in the world was it supposed to be _friendly_ when she’d invited Akako and Hakuba along?

“No thanks, Ahoko. I’m gonna spend my time being productive, and study for the upcoming algebra quiz.”

“You already know the material! _I_ already know the material – Kaito, we’ve not gone anywhere in days! Weeks, in fact!”

Kaito glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She beamed at him, holding out the tickets, and he sighed. 

“Be ready by 1 PM, okay? We’ll have lunch before the drama starts.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

Kaito tried to study, he really did, but in the end his algebra book was discarded in favour of sliding down to the hidden basement where he ended up going through the list of gems again. He’d studied them almost everyday, trying to look up the histories of the more famous and well known ones to see what kind of pattern they had for choosing which ones to check. Many of them were unknown however, either due to lack of existing records or because they belonged to individuals instead of a state or museum.

“I can’t believe they literally had it on an excel sheet,” Kaito muttered as he ticked off a jewel from his own list that they had yet to check. “How very organised.” Then he snickered; it was called organised crime for a reason, after all.

But still, an _excel sheet._ It would have been well protected under layers of passwords, of course, probably even set up on a site exclusively accessible to their members – speaking of which, the printouts he’d received looked authentic, but it was obvious after reading through it that it was incomplete. Like someone had copy pasted half the columns and left out the rest.

Kaito knew who’d done it, and he could guess why. That he had already received the list of the gems was enough however, so he wasn’t too miffed about it. What could the rest of the information even be? Names of members who were assigned to check the gems? Very probable. 

Kaito returned back upstairs a bit for dinner, and that was when he received a call from Jii-san.

“Bocchama, the new automatic remote release capsules will arrive tomorrow. Would you like to drop by to see them?”

“Oh! From that inventor friend of yours?” Kaito grinned, “Can’t wait to try them out, he’s good at what he does.”

“He certainly is, Bocchama.”

“I’ll come by after school tomorrow, then. Night, Jii-san!”

* * *

It was only as he was on his way to the Blue Parrot that Kaito remembered the information he’d received two months ago. He'd forgotten to mention it to Jii-san before, but now that he was going to meet him, it was at the forefront of his mind. How would he frame it?

_Yo, Jii-san, remember that brat from the heist when I walked on air? Or when I stole those jewel-studded slippers from the middle of a crowd? And when we exposed Sakujima Ryoma’s fake art exhibition? Yeah, that guy – he gave me a pretty handy bit of intel – oh and he also knows I’m KID!_

Yeah, no.

Kaito sighed, idly kicking a stone from the road and scuffing his shoe in the process. A yellow mini-car zoomed past him and Kaito cursed, stepping onto the footpath, then sighed again. Secrets were a heavy burden. He turned the corner to reach the bar and pushed through the door.

Jii-san was at the counter, mixing drinks. Kaito waved at him and went to take a seat at one of the tables, pulling out his phone to pass the time. He spent about an hour playing minigames on his phone when his web-browsing app pinged with an alert. 

_New post in the Forum “K_ –

Kaito swiped it away. There was a time he would have loved engaging in that forum, but since the past few months, his interest had dwindled. That was true for most things now, which was another reason he’d agreed to the outing Aoko had planned. He needed to do _something_ – how long would he mope for? 

He put the phone away as Jii-san waved away the last customer, flipping the sign to _Closed_.

“Bocchama, towards the back room – I’ll be there after I wipe down the counters.”

Kaito nodded agreeably, immediately noticing the small box kept on the pseudo-pool-table as he entered the room. Inside were little packets of colourless capsules and just by looking at it, he could see that they were pharmaceutical grade capsules. Kaito held them up to the light – thin but sturdy looking and the seal was almost invisible. Filling them would require some tricky fingerwork, but once they resealed it, it would be as good as new. He whistled.

“If we’d gotten this from elsewhere, it would have cost a pretty penny.”

“Quite so, Bocchama,” said Jii-san, shutting the door behind him, “Fortunately, this only cost twenty thousand yen.”

Kaito’s eyes nearly popped out, “Only?!”

“Per packet.”

“Ahh,” Kaito laughed, “that is slightly more believable. But still…”

Still, it was a good deal. And everytime this mysterious inventor of Jii-san delivered the goods, Kaito would feel both grateful and apprehensive. He’d mentioned it to Jii-san before, but the concerns had been waved away.

“A friend of Toichi-sama had introduced him and Toichi-sama had no complaints regarding his work,” Jii-san had said, and at that Kaito could give no rebuttal. 

They catalogued the capsules then, testing one out to see how it worked – perfectly and without a hitch – and packed them away safely. Their supplier had also given an instruction manual on how to use them, which was handy since Kaito could see how he could apply that principle and change it depending on the situation. And when all was said and done, Kaito still hadn’t brought up the information sheet. 

“Jii-san,” he began, hesitant.

“Yes?”

What would happen if Kaito told him? 

_He’d panic._

That was the immediate response he would get, Kaito was sure. It was the response he’d gotten when Kaito had unmasked him that first time, when he’d realised that the man masquerading as Kaitou Kid and creating havoc in the city was an imposter, and set out to confront him. Panicked until Kaito had told him who his father was and even after that, worried a great deal when informed that Kaito would be taking up the mantle of KID. 

Konosuke Jii was a worrier. And Kaito didn’t want to add on to his already significant worries.

“Ah, nothing,” Kaito smiled, “I’m going out with Aoko and the rest to see a drama this weekend.”

“That’s good to hear, Bocchama,” Jii-san smiled back, pleased to hear Kaito socialising. 

And Kaito went back home then, poker face firmly in place.

* * *

Lunch that weekend was a terrible affair. 

Aoko’s friend Keiko had come along and honestly, she was the only one whom Kaito felt like sharing a seat with. Aoko sat next to Akako while Hakuba took the single armchair and signalled for the menu. 

It was a fancy place with British cuisine as its specialty and Hakuba had insisted on taking them to it. Kaito would have refused to come if it weren’t for the fact that it was Hakuba’s treat – rich kids, honestly. 

“Did you know that Ito Tamanosuke is our age?” Aoko passed around the leaflet to Kaito, “See! And he’s already heading his own drama troupe!”

“He’s not had a very auspicious beginning, has he?”

Kaito looked sharply at Akako, “What do you mean by that?”

Everyone looked over at her, curious. She sniffed delicately, stirring her cup of Earl Grey tea. “His career began with death, and so it would end with it.” She took a sip, scrunched up her nose and put the cup down. “Saguru-kun, I don’t think I agree with british teas.”

Hakuba grimaced, “Just Hakuba-kun is fine, Koizumi-san.”

Kaito suppressed a grin. It was fun to see the byplay between those two – Koizumi Akako’s beauty was an object of admiration for Hakuba, but her continuous references to magic and voodoo made him turn up his nose at her. She foiled her own machinations in this way and it frustrated her to no end.

As they began eating, Akako’s words had all but faded from their minds. Kaito had ordered a nice dish of chicken gravy and potatoes, unlike Hakuba’s _f–f–finny_ thing and chips – Kaito had turned an aggrieved expression on him when he placed the order, which had been summarily ignored. Keiko-chan had readily switched seats with him so that it wasn’t in his line of sight, bless her. But the food was probably the only thing worth mentioning.

Conversation _did not_ flow. In fact, it was stilted. 

Aoko talked of the show – which Hakuba had only acquiesced to after days of pestering, Keiko was here because Aoko was her friend, and Kaito… well, he had just wanted a change in his routine. In fact, the only one interested was Akako. So she liked dramas, who knew. 

When that thread of conversation died out, Keiko brought up school work which was soon decried, and after which Hakuba talked of his recent case but was stopped almost immediately. Awkward would be a fine adjective to describe their little group.

Thus, they were nearly an hour early to the theater. The snacks counter was only just setting up and the seats and isles were being wiped down before the show. Apart from them, very few people were milling about, waiting for the show to start.

Kaito caught hints of an argument between two women standing to the side –

“As if I’ll let you! Don’t test me, Jun!”

“You can’t manage a boyfriend, and you think you can manage a company? Shut up!”

– And he turned away, grimacing. _Yikes._ He didn’t want to hear any more of that family drama. They took a seat on one of the benches to wait when a member of the troupe came out of the auditorium to welcome them.

“We’re still in the middle of setting up,” he said, handing out a pamphlet about the drama, “Thank you for coming!”

The woman called Jun accepted the flyer, “We’ll expect a good show – and I don’t want any accidents with the props this time.”

The man flushed, glancing at them. “Yes, Hitoshi-sama.”

“Thanks, we have one,” Aoko said when he offered them to her.

He bowed to the two women and went back inside, which once again left them with nothing to do. Kaito was already feeling like the day was a waste.

Aoko dragged the girls over to the washroom to freshen up and reapply makeup after a while, claiming it was better than nothing. Kaito had to agree and he would have loved to do the same, just to practice his disguise techniques, but since Hakuba was still there… Hakuba, who was sitting quietly and apparently looking at nothing. 

“So! Would you like to see a card trick?” Kaito couldn’t bear the silence any longer.

Hakuba pulled out his pocket watch to check the time, gave a sigh and said, “Sure, why not.”

Pleased at his somewhat reluctant audience, Kaito brought out a pack of cards and began shuffling through them. “I’ll do you a favour, if you can guess the trick as soon as I do it, I’ll give you one Kuroba-free-prank-day in class!”

Hakuba’s eyes glinted, “You’re on!”

* * *

“No, wait, do that again –”

“Nuh uh, one chance only!” Kaito grinned, pocketing the cards. 

Hakuba had guessed four out of nine tricks correctly so far, but the tenth one had stumped him completely that he hadn’t even made a guess. 

“Hey, you two!” Keiko waved them over, “Show is starting soon, let’s go in.”

Kaito finally noticed that the crowd had started migrating towards the auditorium. They followed, easily finding their seats in the darkened room with the help of their phones.

“That was a good way to spend time, wouldn’t you agree, Hakuba?”

Hakuba shushed him, cradling his chin in his fingers, clearly still trying to figure out that last trick. “Kuroba, I must see that trick again.”

“Shh, it’s starting!” Aoko hissed down the aisle and Kaito mimed zipping his mouth shut.

The show was… something, but Kaito couldn't have said what because he’d dozed off halfway through it. When he woke up, nearly at the end of the play, Hakuba was sitting beside him with his eyes glued to the phone, looking at what seemed like case records. 

Kaito turned his head away the moment a bloody looking picture was pulled up. Just because he’d seen murders before – the consequences of being around Edogawa-kun – or witnessed a death in front of his eyes that one time at Sunset Mansion, or been accused of murder as KID, or even been involved in the death of Nightmare however accidental it was… it was one thing to be _there_ when the murder happend, and another to actively go towards it to solve it. 

A bout of clapping had him turn towards the stage. The actors had all lined up and were bowing, and Ito Tamanosuke was thanking them for attending.

“Ah, that was good!”

 _If you say so._ Kaito yawned. Somewhere at the corner of the first aisle, a bunch of children were clapping loudly. 

Kaito woke up a bit more as the lights came on, stretching as they all stumbled out of the hall. The girls were walking ahead, chatting about the show, while he and Hakuba lagged behind. That’s when they heard it – a piercing scream.

“Where did that come from?”

“Toilet!”

“Isn’t that from the dressing room aisle?”

Most people had frozen, wondering what to do, but Hakuba had already bolted towards it. Aoko looked at him, confused and slightly worried.

“Let’s go see if someone needs help,” Kaito said after a bit of deliberation. 

Quite a few people were waiting to know what happened and had started crowding; they had to push through to reach the toilet. The women’s bathroom door was ajar and he could see Hakuba kneeling in front of a stall.

Hakuba got up, his expression frozen, “Call the police!”

Murmurs immediately erupted. Kaito exchanged a worried glance with Aoko. And then, a voice he had not expected.

“I did. They’re on their way.”

 _What are the chances,_ Kaito thought furiously, _what are the fucking chances?!_

For that was Edogawa Conan’s unmistakable face coming out behind Hakuba. Kaito wondered if he could leave now – he so desperately wanted to leave – and then the kid turned his head and caught his eyes. Kaito looked back, waiting, wondering… but Edogawa simply looked away. 

* * *

The police had allowed mostly everyone to leave after bit of questioning and taking down contact details, agreeing that it wasn’t necessary to keep everyone waiting even though a murder had taken place.

“Crime of passion,” Akako had murmured when she caught sight of the blood in the bathroom, “I told you.”

And Kaito had shuddered. She had said it after all, only that afternoon: _His career began with death, and so it would end._

Kaito didn’t know whether that meant immediately, but considering the exclamation of surprise Megure-keibu had given upon seeing Ito Tamanosuke, it was obvious this wasn’t the first crime scene he’d arrived at and seen him.

“You again,” Megure-keibu had said, and then catching sight of Conan and his little posse of friends, “and you kids too! Really, _everytime._ Even Hakuba-kun is here – very well, what do you have for me?”

Apparently Hakuba was well known for his judgement to be trusted. Kaito didn’t know what to think when he saw Hakuba side by side with Edogawa – who was playing up his cute persona – so he only stood to the side.

Akako and Keiko had left along with the crowd a while ago, leaving only Kaito and Aoko back with Hakuba; Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko stayed behind with Edogawa-kun and his friends. And the final people were the deceased’s friends who’d accompanied her to the theater.

“You’re Hitoshi Rin-san’s sister?”

“Half-sister,” said Hitoshi Jun, eyes red.

Takagi-keiji nodded, “Can you tell me what happened?”

Kaito felt exhausted just listening to the whole procedure. Hakuba had told them that they could leave and he’d handle it, but Aoko had insisted they would wait and so there he was.

“Satoshi-san and Mina-chan had invited us over to see the play,” Hitoshi Jun was saying, “we were going to go have dinner with them later. Who knew that – that –”

She dissolved into sobs and Takagi-keiji moved on to the other two. 

Satoshi-san was the boyfriend, tall and broad-shouldered, but with minimal acting ability. He was very good at stunts however, Tamanosuke told the inspector, which is why he would usually play a silent samurai’s role, or a guard’s. His sister, Mina-chan was far better at acting, skilled in makeup and disguise, and her addition to the troupe was an occasion of great celebration. 

It was her talents that drew Hitoshi Jun’s attention to the drama troupe and how the Hitoshi family became one of their new investors. The four of them had become friends when Satoshi and Rin began dating, and it was the norm for the sisters to come watch the play whenever it was in the region.

Takagi-keiji then proceeded to ask about her interpersonal relations.

“Relationship?” Mina-san said, looking bewildered, “Satoshi-nii had a good relationship with her. So did I, of course,” she added hastily, “Jun-san on the other hand –”

“Shut up! Which family doesn’t fight?”

“I didn’t say anything, aren't you a bit quick to declare yourself?”

“I know what you will say – what you think – what all of you think! Just because I'm the illegitimate daughter, do you think I'll stand for your words?”

 _Whoa, intense._ Kaito watched them argue like one would watch an impending disaster about to happen. The police did not interfere, content to draw their conclusions from the freely offered information.

“Ne, nii-chan!”

Kaito blinked and looked down to see the brat looking up quizzically at him. 

“What?” 

“Oh, don’t be so terse, Kaito!” Aoko bent down and beamed at the child, “What is it? Aoko-nee-chan will help!”

Edogawa turned his bright smile on for her, “Thank you! Hakuba-nii-chan said you guys arrived as early as them to the show, did you notice something?”

“Hmm, Aoko didn’t really pay attention, but I think we did see those two sisters, didn’t we?”

This was directed at Kaito who scowled and answered grudgingly, “Yeah, they were arguing. Kind of like now.”

“What were they arguing about?”

“Should you really be asking about this?” Aoko interjected before Kaito could answer, “Let’s leave this to the police, boya.”

Kaito stifled a smirk, wondering how Edogawa would take being talked down to. As if to infuriate him, the brat just smiled brightly. 

“Hakuba-nii-chan asked me to help! I won’t get in the police’s way!”

Aoko looked doubtful but nodded, “Alright then.”

“So, what were they arguing about?” Edogawa asked again, only to be cut off with the arrival of another police inspector who ran up to Megure-keibu and muttered in his ear. Edogawa decided that was more important info than what Aoko could give and ran towards them – only to be stopped by Mouri-chan.

“Conan-kun!”

Watching Edogawa had always been fascinating to Kaito. Since the very first moment that he’d known him, Tantei-kun had been like a puzzle to solve and with every interaction he felt like he was gaining another piece. Even now, as he watched, Edogawa’s face turned sheepish and he obediently followed Mouri-chan back to their corner. 

“We’ll be cordoning off this area now,” Takagi-keiji announced, “please make your way to the, uh –”

“Rear lounge,” offered Tamanosuke, “I’ll lead them there.”

Kaito sighed. They were going to be here for a while, it seemed.

* * *

In the rear lounge, the Shounen Tantei-dan were creating a fuss. 

It started when Mouri-chan mentioned that their parents would be expecting them soon and they should leave, but Suzuki-chan said they couldn’t possibly leave _now_ when Tamanosuke-san needed them – which was added upon by the kids and then Ito Megumi, younger sister of Tamonosuke, who clung on to Edogawa-kun and refused to let go. 

Tamanosuke-san didn’t know whether to be amused or resigned. 

Kaito, meanwhile, watched on as Hakuba sat in the lounge for precisely ten minutes, to show compliance to the police’s orders, before announcing that he was going to take another look at the crime scene and left. In short order, Mouri-chan clearly won the ongoing argument and volunteered to take Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta home, while Sonoko stayed back with Conan-kun. The moment she left with his friends, Edogawa slipped out of the room. 

A moment later, his phone buzzed. Kaito didn’t need to check it to know who it was and what it would say.

“Aoko, I’m gonna go to the bathroom and be right back, okay?”

Aoko’s head shot up, “No! Don’t go off alone, we don’t know –”

“Shh,” Kaito discreetly gestured towards Hitoshi Rin’s friends sitting at the far end of the room, “They’re all here anyway, so it’s fine.”

Her eyes widened, “Do you think…?”

“The police think so, which is why they’re the only ones held back – plus, we have nothing to do with that woman, so really, we’re safe. Look,” he continued when she still seemed apprehensive, “why don’t you go give that Suzuki girl some company? She’s sitting by herself too.”

Aoko glanced at the brown haired heiress and nodded hesitantly, “Okay, Aoko will do that. Wait, where did that kid go?”

“Ah…” Kaito didn’t think she would notice, “I’ll go look for him when I’m out.”

And then he made his way out before she found a way to change his mind. As expected, Edogawa was waiting around the corner. There was no trace of his earlier childish behaviour. But at the same time, Kaito didn’t see that dismissive, haughty look either. 

“Walk with me.”

Kaito fell into step smoothly as they made their way to the crime scene. “I really don’t know much about them, all I heard was that Rin had boyfriend troubles and her sister didn’t think she was fit to manage the company – I’m guessing there’s inheritance problems there.”

“I thought so,” said Edogawa, “Satoshi-san and Rin-san didn’t exactly have an equal relationship, considering she was an investor in the drama troupe he worked for. There was friction there.” He waved that aside, “Anyway, I didn’t call you for that. If Hakuba sees us spending time together now, it sets up for future meetings.”

Ah, yes, that was true. 

“So, what, I’ll just tag along as you investigate the case?”

That wasn't exactly the most enjoyable activity, but when the alternative was sitting still in a room… 

“Yes – you squeamish around blood?”

“Uh,” Kaito didn’t know how to answer that.

“Not seen enough to decide?”

“You could say that.”

Edogawa nodded. “Don’t enter the bathroom then.”

Kaito had no plans to. They’d reached the toilets just as Hakuba emerged out of it.

“Blood splatter pattern indicates the knife was thrown from a considerable distance,” he said to Edogawa, then blinked, “Kuroba. What are you doing here?”

“Kuroba-nii-chan said he’d seen Rin-san and Jun-san quarrelling earlier today,” Edogawa spoke up, “did he tell you already?”

It was the most normal Kaito had heard his tone be, almost like how it used to be with KID in the beginning. Or even the Shounen Tantei-dan. _As if he were talking to an equal,_ Kaito realized. 

Hakuba narrowed his eyes, “No. But thank you for relaying information, Kuroba, however late it might be.”

Kaito gave him an unrepentant smile, “You’re welcome.”

Hakuba looked like he wanted to say more, but refrained. “Anyway, Edogawa-kun, the scene so far is as follows – Rin-san opened the door of the toilet stall, her killer was standing on the opposite side of the bathroom.”

“And they threw the knife as soon as the door opened,” Edogawa picked up, “The distance helped avoid any immediate blood from spraying on them. Rin-san fell back into the stall, stumbled – or maybe slipped – on her own blood, cracking her head against the wall behind her –”

“– and thinking she was dead, the killer left.”

“Wait,” Kaito said, “what do you mean, _thinking_ she was dead? Didn’t she die then?”

Hakuba shook his head, “Presumably not. She clearly tried to call for help, her phone has bloody fingerprints on it.”

“Since the killer would have stopped that from happening, we can only assume she lost consciousness,” said Edogawa, “then had a lucid interval where she woke up and tried to call someone. But her phone had fallen on the floor when she did and cracked.”

“Correct,” Hakuba then said to Edogawa, “however, I’m of the opinion that the ‘2’ she pressed on her phone keypad wasn’t her calling someone, but a dying message.”

Edogawa’s eyes widened, “She was trying to type out someone’s name?”

“That _is_ a possibility.”

Kaito voiced what both of them were thinking, “No one’s name begins from _ni_ however.”

“Actually, Satoshi and Mina’s family name is Nishigori,” said Edogawa, “but that would over complicate matters. No one leaves a dying message that’s difficult to decipher.” He paused, pulling out his phone, “What if it’s not _ni_ but just literally the number 2?”

“Speed Dial?” Hakuba nodded thoughtfully, “Possible. But her phone’s broken, so we don’t know –”

“Her boyfriend,” Kaito said, “Who else would be the first on her speed dial list? The sister she doesn’t get along with? Or Mina-san?”

Both detectives looked at him with complicated expressions.

“What you say makes sense,” said Edogawa, “but Rin-san went to the toilet near the end of the drama. At that time, Satoshi-san was on the stage. Even if he murdered her, he would have to run down to the back rooms, all the way out through the green room into the dressing room, then past it to go to the toilet, kill her and go all the way back.”

“It would take approximately ten minutes,” Hakuba added, “supposing he knew she would be in the bathroom and could wait long enough for her to come out and kill her.”

“Or even make sure that no one was in,” Edogawa said.

“It could have been a pre-arranged meeting,” Kaito suggested.

They did not look convinced and Kaito shrugged, giving up. It wasn’t his business. He stood back to watch Edogawa and Hakuba interact, minds as quick and sharp as they threw conjectures at each other and then disputed over them only to restart the process. The detectives were clearly in their element.

“Let’s plot this sequentially,” said Hakuba after a while and pulled out a notebook from his pocket.

Kaito read over his shoulder:

  * 2:15 PM – Hitoshi siblings arrive at Uzukawa Auditorium
  * 3:30 PM – Show starts
  * 4:15 PM – Fifteen minute intermission



“There was an intermission?” Kaito asked, surprised.

“You slept through it.”

“Also, where did you get such precise timings?”

Hakuba sighed, “I asked. Now, will you be quiet?”

Kaito hummed in response, snickering slightly when Edogawa stood on his toes to look at the book. The brat ignored him save for one irritated glance.

  * 4:30 PM – Intermission ends
  * 5:05 PM – Hitoshi Rin goes to the toilet



“How in the world did you know _that_?”

“Kuroba, I swear –”

“He asked Jun-san what scene was going on when Rin-san left,” Edogawa answered for Hakuba, “and then corresponded it to the time.”

Kaito laughed, “Phew, that is way less creepy than what I had in mind.”

“Please do not share it,” Hakuba said in a clipped tone.

  * 5:15 PM – Show ends
  * 5:25 PM – Thank you speech and character assembly
  * 5:30 PM – Audience begins leaving
  * 5:44 PM – Jun-san finds Rin-san’s corpse



Kaito didn’t have to wonder about how Hakuba got the last timing – he probably had pulled out his pocket watch to check the time the moment they heard the scream.

“But,” Kaito realised, “this doesn’t really tell us what the others were doing then.”

“That is where testimonials factor in,” Hakuba said, “The only time Jun-san left her seat was in the intermission. And when Rin-san left for the toilet at the end, the man at the snack counter assures that he didn’t see anyone follow after her.”

“And since the play was still going on, neither Satoshi-san nor Mina-san could have left to kill her and then returned,” Edogawa said.

“Surely not all the time though!” Kaito looked at them, “Not all actors are on stage at the same time – and if one guard just goes missing for about ten minutes and then returns – what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Hakuba and Edogawa did not answer, but bolted out of the corridor and towards the snack counter, where the owner was in the process of wiping down counters and packing up. Kaito followed at a slightly slower pace; they were grinning identical grins when he reached them. 

_They’ve figured it out._ Kaito had seen detectives spout incredible deductions before – had disguised himself as a detective, albeit a slightly useless one – but he realised that he’d forgotten. 

Hakuba was more of a classmate and an annoying, if amusing, appearance at his heists. Rarely had he seen him work on a murder case. 

And Edogawa… all his perceptions regarding the kid had undergone a complete overhaul recently, that Kaito had to remind himself now what his speciality was – _homicide._

He didn’t spend his time chasing after thieves; Kaitou Kid was probably way too down on his list of priorities. Edogawa would certainly not spend time thinking of him as Kaito had done so – frustratingly, unwillingly, obsessively – in the past few months.

He didn’t know what to think of that. He wanted to _matter_ ; he wanted to be more than just a side project, only to be visited when required. Kaito wanted to feel that same intensity on him that he used to receive as KID, before his identity was revealed – not the casual approach, the nonchalant attitude he got now – as if the mystery once solved, held no more appeal for him. 

_Detectives are critics,_ he used to say. He’d forgotten that was only so for a magician. But for police investigations, they were indispensable – and Kaito only just remembered how it sent shivers down his back to see that knowing expression gracing their face. 

Kaito cleared his throat, pulling himself from his thoughts. “Case solved?”

“Nearly,” said Hakuba, a sharp glint in his eyes.

Edogawa smirked as he walked towards the dressing room, announcing softly, “All we require now, is evidence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Notes:  
> 2 = ni (phonetic similarity to Ni of Nishigori)
> 
> ...
> 
> oh my gosh, finally - this chapter was rewritten 3 times cause i had troubles with the crime scene ahhhh - finally got it to work the way i wanted, though! Also, turned out waaay longer than the other chapters, yikes. Consistent word count who? This work runs on improv.  
> (since i didn't want to wait much longer to post, this went through a very hurried editing - do let me know if there's a typo somewhere or if something looks weird!)
> 
> Also, not much actual plot here except for introducing characters to each other and filling in some plotholes from previous chapters xD
> 
> Please leave me a comment if you enjoyed this! It really helps me to know that you're liking it and encourages me to write ^^


	5. The man named Bourbon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the case ends, but the danger has only just begun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life intefered, hence the late update (it really was written a long time ago, i swear)

The police had gathered everyone back at the crime scene for the reveal as per Hakuba Saguru’s request. The Nishigori siblings, Satoshi and Mina, and Hitoshi Jun stood next to Ito Tamanosuke while Kaito joined Aoko and Suzuki Sonoko standing a little ways further. 

“What’s going on?” Aoko whispered to him as soon as they were assembled, “And where’s Hakuba-kun?”

“Gone off with Takagi-keiji to check something,” answered Kaito before shushing her, “they’re going to reveal the murderer.”

Aoko frowned but acquiesced. 

“You have kept us here long enough, haven’t you?” Hitoshi Jun said, glancing nervously at the bathroom stall still stained in red. “We all have alibis for her murder, let us go if there’s nothing else to be done.”

“Maa, maa,” Megure-keibu placated, a glint in his eye, “Very soon. We just want to go over the events once more. Hitoshi-san, you and Rin-san sat down in the auditorium before the show began. Did you leave your seats for any reason afterward?”

“I’ve already answered this!” Jun-san said, displeased, “Okay, sure, let’s do this again – Rin and I had seats near the front, right next to the aisle. I went out during the intermission because I’d to take a call, I think Rin also went out after me. Our company is making some major overhauls recently, because, uh –” her eyes flickered to the bathroom once more, “– we were supposed to inherit the company soon.”

“So Rin-san wasn’t in her seat when you returned?”

“No, she came back about five or ten minutes after the play started.”

“Did you ask her what had called her away?”

Jun-san shrugged, “Why would I? She’d tell me if she had to, or I’d assume it wasn’t important.”

Meguri-keibu nodded. “Then? When did she leave?”

“It was almost the ending of the drama – I remember that blond kid asking me – Tamanosuke-san’s character had declared war and a runner was sent to call forth the army.”

Ito Tamanosuke nodded, “That scene takes place about half an hour after the intermission, yes.”

“Once again, she did not tell you why she was leaving?”

Jun-san shook her head. 

“Very well, what about you, Satoshi-san?”

Kaito leaned forward at this. He was in the midst of telling them how the boyfriend could have done it – when the detectives had suddenly bolted. He wanted to know what the man would say, and if he would give something away.

“I played Guard General in the drama,” he began, “my scenes were mostly at the beginning of the show and at the end. And of course at the bowing ceremony and speech of thanks, we were all on stage. I met Rin once in the intermission –” he nodded at Jun here, “– she came out to see me, but since I was in a hurry I left quickly – we only talked for about five minutes. Mine was the next scene, immediately after the intermission, you see, so I had to prepare.”

Kaito frowned, that actually sounded pretty solid. Since Rin returned to her seat, some time later – wait.  _ That didn’t add up. _

“And what about you, Mina-san?”

“I didn’t see her at all today. I was also playing a Guard General, and I had more lines than Satoshi, so I stayed back in the intermission to prepare myself for the upcoming scenes.”

_ Rin returned to her seat long after the break was over  _ –  _ if she’d finished talking with Satoshi early, what was she doing in the time in between? _

“And do either of you have weapon training?”

Satoshi and Mina looked at each other. “Are you suspecting us?”

“Just a general question,” Megure-keibu said, “I hear all of the troupe members have basic training with a shinai or katana, yes?”

“That’s true,” said Tamanosuke.

“So that means either of you could have thrown the knife at Rin-san from a distance,” concluded Megure-keibu.

Immediately, they started protesting.

“Why would I kill her? She’s my girlfriend!”

“I didn’t even see her all day!”

“Don’t lie,” Jun-san jumped in, “you were having problems with Rin! And Mina never liked her in the first place – you thought your brother was too good for her!”

“Of course he’s too good for her, but I didn’t do anything to her!”

“Which relationship doesn’t have problems?”

Before the argument could escalate, Hakuba and Edogawa appeared along with Takagi-keiji, hefting a guard costume between them. Kaito blinked,  _ is this the evidence? _

“Allow me to continue the story, Megure-keibu,” Hakuba said, “beginning with the dying message left by Hitoshi Rin.”

* * *

_ Rin walked out of the auditorium, conflicted. Satoshi had asked her to meet him in the green room, and she clearly wanted to, but what Jun had said this afternoon… It wasn’t that she didn’t like Satoshi – she did, she really did! But she was the soon-to-be heiress of a famous company, and he was but an actor in a relatively well known drama troupe. Her father had already taken issue with her, had introduced several men to her, urged her to make a  _ **_better choice_ ** _ \- this really wasn’t going well.  _

_ All those blind dates with men her father thought to be more suited for her - if Satoshi ever found out – if he realised what her family thought of him – _

_ “Rin!” _

_ She plastered on a smile quickly, “Satoshi! You were great back there – and those moves! you’ve improved!” _

_ “Ha ha,” he raised a hand to his head to mess with his hair, a nervous tick, and then stopped when his whole chunky armor moved with him, “Sorry, I didn’t have enough time to change.” _

_ “That’s okay, at least you took off the headgear – there're so many guards on stage, I kept getting confused!” _

_ He smiled, “As long as you’re having fun. Say, do you want to meet up tomorrow?” _

_ She hesitated. _

_ “Ah, let me guess – board meeting?” _

_ “Yeah, something like that – I’ll call you once I’m free.” _

_ “Okay,” he agreed, trying to press a kiss on her cheek and laughing when the armour came between them. _

_ She took a photo with him for commemoration and then, seeing how the break was nearly over, he bid her goodbye. She waved him off, taking a detour to the bathroom when her phone rang. _

_ “Otou-san?” _

_ “Rin, have you prepared your speech for tomorrow’s meeting?” _

_ That was her father, business minded to the end. “Yes, it’s ready – I’ll send you the draft once I’m home.” _

_ “Home? Where are you now?” _

_ She cursed internally, realising her slip up. “Ah, remember the recent investment we made in the entertainment sector?” _

_ “Rin,” her father said severely, “is it that boy again?” _

_ “Otou-san – please, I don’t want to –” _

_ “Haven’t I introduced you to better men? Toshio-kun last week –” _

_ “Toshio-kun is fine and all, but I’m with Satoshi right now!” _

_ “Hitoshi Rin! I will not have you speaking to me thus – Iwamura Toshio is the son of a respected and loyal business partner, I expect you to meet up with him again. Do I make myself clear?” _

_ She grit her teeth, waiting outside the bathroom till it cleared. The bell for the end of intermission rang and slowly, everyone left to go back to their seats. _

_ “Rin, did you hear me?” _

_ She took a deep breath. “Yes, Otou-san.” _

_ “Repeat it for me.” _

_ “I will meet up with Toshio-kun again.” _

_ “Good. I will expect your draft by tonight.” _

_ She ducked into a stall, shutting the lid of the commode and dropping down on it, and took a deep breath. She wanted to fling her phone into the wall but refrained from the urge when she heard the bathroom door open. A minute later, calm and composed, she opened the door – and came face to face with a tall figure clad in samurai outfit, chunky armor and headgear in place. _

_ She blinked, confused. “Satoshi? This is the women’s –” _

_ She never got a chance to complete. In a fluid motion, a knife was unsheathed and thrown with startling accuracy towards her. She gasped as it sunk into her, her fingers clutching at her abdomen as blood gushed and pain lanced through her. _

_ “Wha –?” _

_ Her heel twisted as she stumbled back, overbalancing – and then blackness flooded her vision as her head thunked the tiled wall behind. Hoarsely, she could hear a voice curse – _

_ “You cheat!” _

* * *

“And the evidence is here,” chirped Edogawa in his cute voice, “at the bottom of the foot wear!” 

Kaito leaned forward to see it – a smidgen of blood – nearly wiped out from all the running around that had been done on stage after.

“That’s barely anything!” Mina cried upon seeing it, “How can you say Satoshi-nii –”

“Luminol testing shows a larger surface area,” Hakuba interjected, “besides, we never said Satoshi-san did anything.”

Satoshi, pale faced and shaking, was silent. He only looked at the uniform with wide eyes and neither agreed nor disagreed with what the detectives were saying. 

“We only said that the killer, after throwing the knife, came closer to the body, smashed the phone so she could not use it even if she gained consciousness – for surely, it couldn’t have cracked so much just by falling on the ground – and that was when the blood got on the shoes.”

“And since they had to quickly get out of the toilet,” Edogawa continued after Hakuba, “they probably didn’t even notice it.”

“So,” Megrue-keibu said finally, “it seems her dying message truly indicated Satoshi-kun –”

“No,” said Hakuba, “actually, that was only who Rin-san  _ thought _ had killed her.”

And Kaito already knew what he was going to say next. Because this was how the perfect alibi had been created – because after Rin-san’s death, someone had returned to the hall. That someone had sat beside Hitoshi Jun in the darkened room, that someone had been seen going out towards the toilet by the snack-stall owner, that someone –

“Isn’t that right, Mina-san?” Edogawa said in his soft and deadly voice, “You probably knew that Rin-san was going to meet up with your brother and you went to see them. Everyone knew they were having problems, Jun-san made sure to advertise it all the time. You probably got a look at the reason today and in a fit of anger, killed Rin.”

“But you didn’t know what to do after,” Hakuba picked up, “You wanted to create an alibi for yourself – if they matched the timings you were missing with the timing from when Rin-san wasn’t seen, you would come under suspicion. So you hurried into the dressing room unseen, it is only down the hall from the toilet after all, and picked out a clothing similar to Rin-san’s.”

Kaito could fill in the rest for himself. Nishigori Mina, adept in disguise, walked into the auditorium as Hitoshi Rin. After sitting long enough to prove she was alive, she quickly went back to change into her outfit and stepped onto the stage for her scene. That was probably what Hakuba and Edogawa had asked the man at the snack counter – about the woman who had walked out by her lonesome in the middle of the play.

Chiba-keiji arrived then, with a bag in one hand and the snack-stall owner trailing behind him. He began pulling out outfits from the bag until the man gasped and pointed at one.

“Yes, that’s the one – I would remember! Anyone who wore such a bright yellow dress would catch my eye!”

In the darkness of the auditorium, it would have looked similar to the muted yellow and brown dress that Rin-san wore, but out in the bright light… It was a pity that drama troupes usually kept only eye-catching dresses in their store cupboards.

“Mina-san, do you have anything to say for yourself?” Megure-keibu asked.

“My brother was too good for her –”

“Mina!” Satoshi gasped, “That does not – you can’t –  _ Mina _ –”

Megure-keibu cleared his throat pointedly, “Anything  _ else, _ Mina-san?”

She shook her head mutely. 

* * *

They took the bus home. Edogawa had gone home once Mouri-chan had returned, the Suzuki’s car pulling up for them outside the theater, while they had walked to the nearest bus stop.

Aoko claimed the window seat at the back of the bus immediately and leaned her head against it. The whole case had troubled her and Kaito didn’t disturb her as she took a fitful nap on the way home.

Hakuba, for once, sat quietly next to him. After a while, he said, “You most probably won’t have to fill in any paperwork – I’ll clear it out with Megure-keibu so you’re excused.”

Kaito gave a glance at Aoko’s sleeping figure and nodded in thanks. Then something struck him. He wavered, wondering how to phrase it, but his curiosity led him to ask.

“That boy – Edogawa Conan – you really looked comfortable discussing a  _ murder _ case with a seven year old kid.”

Hakuba shot him a look, “Are you that surprised at his intelligence?”

_ Ah, there comes the customary accusation of being KID, _ Kaito thought wryly. 

“Yes,” he said with one perfectly raised eyebrow, “it is my first time meeting him, after all.”

Hakuba did not look like he believed him – but then, when did he ever? – but said, “I’ve been on two cases now with him. He’s pretty sharp.”

“Yes,” Kaito agreed. Sharp was one way of putting it. And dangerous was another. “But you should have known that before – he’s not called the Kid Killer for nothing.”

Hakuba shook his head, “I don’t pay much attention to what he does at heists. Kaitou Kid is a thief. That’s different, murders are a far more dangerous game. And a wrong deduction can severely jeopardise someone’s life. In the previous case… he, he was –” Hakuba cut himself off, “– let’s just say that for a child, his intuition and knowledge is far above his peers.” 

Kaito did  _ not _ expect that effusive of a praise from someone as taciturn as him.

Then Hakuba scowled, “And much more tolerable than that Detective of the West, certainly.”

Kaito suppressed a grin.  _ There is a story there, and I’m almost tempted to ask. _

But for a new acquaintance, too many questions would only raise more flags. So Kaito shut his mouth and spent the rest of the journey playing app games on his phone.

* * *

The next day, Kaito bounced towards Aoko’s desk, grinning. “Ready to ace the quiz, Aoko?”

She grinned back, “Watch it, Kaito, I’m going to be taking first spot today.”

“Allow me,” said Hakuba, sitting down on the desk next to her, “to contest your positions.”

The two maths enthusiasts looked at him and bared their teeth in a menacing smile. “Try it,” they said.

“Alright, settle down,” Mizuki-sensei called as she entered the room, papers in hand, “please put your bags outside the class, phones inside them and switched off –”

Aoko’s phone buzzed right then.

“– off, I said, Nakamori-san! Get to it, quick.”

As everyone scrambled to put away their cellphones and bags, Kaito hissed at her, “Who was texting you this early in the morning?”

“Sonoko-chan.”

“Wait – from yesterday?”

“Who else, you left me with her in a room full of strangers,” said Aoko, “What was Aoko supposed to do? Sit quietly?”

Kaito looked at her incredulously as she sat down in her seat. Barely an hour spent together and Aoko was already calling her  _ Sonoko-chan _ – that girl’s socializing ability was too high! 

In fact, Kaito spent the whole day witnessing Aoko giggle into her phone whenever it buzzed with a message, replying almost instantly and in doing so, ignore him. He may have been feeling a tiny bit jealous, sue him.

“You sure are joined at the hip for having known her for all of two hours!”

Aoko grinned, “Don’t be like that, Kaito! You can come with me to meet her this weekend.”

“Ha ha, no. The last time I went out with you –”

“Just you,” Aoko said, earnest, “Aoko hasn’t invited Akako-chan or Hakuba-kun this time.”

Mollified, Kaito thought about it. Meeting up with Suzuki wouldn’t be much of a problem. Sure, she was best friends with Mouri-chan and the chances of running into Edogawa were high, but Aoko had only just become friends with Suzuki Sonoko – she wouldn’t invite a seven year old child to meet up on their outing, would she?

Satisfied by this reasoning, Kaito found himself accompanying Aoko the following weekend to meet her new friends. 

“Where are we going, by the way?” Kaito asked as Aoko paid for their tickets.

“There’s a cafe in Beika, Sonoko-chan really likes their sandwiches!”

_ That sounds nice, _ Kaito thought.

* * *

“I’m so glad to be able to meet you properly,” Mouri Ran positively gushed, “It’s just – you look like a classmate of ours, and I didn’t know how to say it last time we met, and you left before I could say anything – ah, sorry, I’m rambling!”

She was, but that wasn’t the alarming bit. The alarming bit was the cafe.

“You didn’t tell me it was Cafe Poirot we were going to,” Kaito hissed to Aoko as the waitress, Azusa-san, took their orders.

“What’s wrong with this cafe?” she whispered back. 

_ It is right below Edogawa’s apartment is what’s wrong with it! _

But then, he was nowhere to be seen. Small mercies. Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko were great conversationalists however, and Kaito’s mind soon drifted. They also showed him a photo of their classmate who looked similar to him –

“See?” Mouri-chan handed him her phone, “A little bit similar, isn’t he?”

_ Not really _ , Kaito thought, but he could see what she meant. His eyes quickly picked the differences, things he would have to watch out for if he ever disguised as him – and really, what a convenient disguise! 

“So where’s the guy now?”

“On a case,” Sonoko growled, “that idiot detective – can't even return to spend one holiday trip with us!”

Kaito nearly choked on plain air. A detective? Just his luck – wait, now that he thought about it… 

“This is Kudo Shinichi?!”

Sonoko blinked, “You didn’t know?”

“No! It’s not like his photo is all over the internet – I’ve only heard of him!”

“Well,” Ran laughed, “of course, he’s still a minor, they can’t really show his face without his parent’s permission.”

“Oh, Aoko has heard of him too! Show me, show me – Kaito, he does look like you. A bit, I mean!”

Kaito stared some more before handing the phone back. This day was taking a bizarre turn.

“Egg and lettuce sandwiches for Sonoko-san and Ran-san,” came a pleasant voice next to Kaito’s ear suddenly, “and tomato for ojou-san.”

“Oh, thank you, Amuro-san!”

The man smiled and bowed before disappearing behind the kitchen door.

“That’s Amuro-san – he’s Kogoro-jii-san’s apprentice – but I think his talents are wasted when he could be such a great chef. Aoko-chan, try it!”

“It is delicious!”

“Right? I knew it was a good idea to bring you here –”

Kaito could barely pay attention to the conversation going on around him. He sat frozen, unable to believe that – that –

_ Sherry, do you recognise me? _

_ Bourbon. The self-proclaimed rival of my sister’s boyfriend. I do. _

To think that he was here, all this time, in plain sight. Working as a waiter in a  _ cafe _ of all things! He sucked in a deep breath. 

_ Calm, _ he told himself,  _ poker face, poker face  _ – Shit! He needed to – what did he need to do? What could he even do? If the man was roaming around freely, as the  _ apprentice _ to Nemuri no Kogoro, didn’t that mean that even Edogawa was in no position to oust him?

“Kuroba-kun?”

Kaito blinked. Everyone was looking at him in concern.

“Are you okay, did something not agree with you?”

_ Yes. And I don’t mean the food. _

“Toilet,” he said abruptly, and then added more normally, “I’ll be back in a sec.”

The moment the toilet door shut behind him, he latched it and pulled out his phone. Swiping through his contacts, his thumb hesitated over the name. Never had he thought he would willingly text Edogawa first, but here he was. But he wasn't getting out of the bathroom stall until he got some answers – or it was time to leave, whichever came first.

He wanted to stay as far as possible from that Amuro guy as he could. His breath hitched just remembering the adrenaline rush he’d gotten the last time he’d been face to face with Bourbon – incidentally, the only other person apart from Snake to pull a gun on him.

Before the FBI, that is.

Kaito took in a breath. This was actually bothering him. Was this what people called PTSD? Was he traumatised? Why only that then – why not –  _ later. _ Not now. First, Edogawa.

_ Oi _

_ Tantei-kun _

_ I’m not kidding around, reply dammit _

_ I’m here. _

_ What is it? _

_ Did you know you’ve got a selection of cocktails down in this cafe of yours? _

_ What are you doing here? _

_ So there ARE things you don’t know! _

_ ha! _

_ Shut up. _

Kaito could feel a smile pulling at his lips. The urgency and mild panic he’d felt before had decreased slightly – strange how much it calmed him just to be able to talk to the little detective. And to be able to still surprise him at times.

_ You’re with the new friend Sonoko was going to meet? _

_ Bingo! _

_ Alright, so, what’s this about? _

_ Didn’t i say it already? _

There was a longer pause this time before he replied.

_ You don’t need to worry about him. _

_ Uh _

_ EX – CU – SE ME _

_ That guy _

_ that guy tried to throw me off a train _

_ oh wait _

_ that’s you _

_ that guy tried to blow me in a train! _

_ I’m quite certain he didn’t. _

_ because i escapad _

_ esaped _

_ escaped _

_ you get what i mean _

_ … Yes. _

_ Also, he didn’t. _

_ I warned you of the explosives before hand _

_ You had an escape strategy ready _

_ If anyone in that train was surprised about the explosives, it was him. _

_ so who the hell tried to blast me to pieces then? _

_ Not him. _

_ i still don’t trust him _

_ Good. _

_ Neither do I. _

_ Don’t let your guard down around him. _

_ who’s he really? _

_ Don’t you know already? _

_ i thought i did _

_ then u went and said that he didn’t try and kill me _

_ so now im confused _

_ Kuroba your texting is getting progressively atrocious _

_ ur too young to know the word attroccious _

_ atrocious _

_ fuck it _

_ also im not gonna put effort into typing fancy for u _

_ There is a function called autocorrect _

_ Also, you could try typing slower _

_ nah _

_ Suit yourself _

_ Now, are you calm? _

With a jolt, Kaito realised he was. He was even smiling – strange how only last week, he’d have never thought Edogawa would be able to pull that reaction out of him. It was a case of lesser evils, he knew. Enemy of my enemy and all that.

_ yeah _

_ hey _

_ who is he _

_ Again, you know it already. _

_ i really dont _

_ Well, this is not a conversation I want on a phone. _

_ So, we’ll discuss it later. _

_ actually _

_ since i’m already here… _

_ You want to meet up now? _

_ saves me travel time _

_ and money _

_ coz your boss aint reimbursing me for shit u know _

That, Kaito had realised since the heist, was a good way to silence Edogawa. Bring up the nameless-man and he’d pull back immediately. Perhaps what he’d said to him that night had really struck the kid. Who knows? Kaito refused to feel guilty over it – the brat had needed a wake up call, as far as he was concerned.

A minute later, his phone pinged with a reply.

_ After you’re done hanging out, wait down in the cafe for me. _

Kaito replied with an ‘okay’ and pocketed his phone, calmly flushing the toilet for appearances’s sake and then washed his hands. A minute later, he rejoined Aoko at their table, smiling as if nothing had transpired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really, do let me know what you think. Cases are hit or miss while writing - and i really really hope you found it enjoyable.
> 
> Leave me a comment! It honestly encourages me to write so much (i will love you forever if you do xD)
> 
> Thanks ~
> 
> ...
> 
> If the text speak looks weird let me know. never tried to incorporate it in fic before


	6. The woman called Sherry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito gets some answers... and deduces the rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Short chapter this time - sorry about that. Had a brief scare when I was down with cold this weekend, but turns out i'm fine! Didn't get much writing done tho D:
> 
> Hope you enjoy~  
> (Next chapter will be longer, I promise)

“I don’t get it, who are you going to meet?”

After Aoko had bid farewell to Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko, Kaito had told her to go on ahead while he met up with someone.

“It’s just an acquaintance of Jii-san,” he said, “Seriously, go ahead. I’ll see you tonight.”

Reluctantly saying goodbye, Aoko left and Kaito, unwilling to stay inside with Bourbon in the vicinity, decided to take a walk around the block. Fifth Street, Beika, was a commercial sector, that was immediately obvious. Kaito had loved that little tidbit when Edogawa Conan had been added impromptu to the list of detectives chasing him – it increased the chances of hiding in plain sight amongst the various shoppers if he ever needed to spy on the kid.

Two cafes, a sushi restaurant, a hair salon, a mechanic, a stationery shop and of course, the detective agency. Kaito had the map of the place clearly in his head. Edogawa walked out from the door just as Kaito completed his second round around the block and in mutual agreement, they began walking again.

“Let’s make this quick,” Edogawa said almost immediately, “I have to go for a game for mahjong.”

Kaito raised a brow. “You play?”

“Yes, and no,” he said and then clarified, “Occhan does and he takes too long. Ran wants him home in time for dinner.”

Kaito did not want to get involved in whatever agreement Mouri Kogoro had with Edogawa that he would bring a kid to a  _ mahjong _ parlour. But sure, quick was doable.

“Tell me more about him.”

“Dangerous,” came the immediate reply, “but he doesn’t know you, so you should be fine.”

“I didn’t particularly feel  _ fine _ last time,” Kaito grumbled, “but whatever. Is he part of – is he with Snake?”

Edogawa looked thoughtful. “I can’t say. But it may be a case of him not being aware.”

Kaito understood the implication. The organisation was secretive, no one was fully aware of how many members there were or even who they were.

“How many?” he asked.  _ How many more of their agents are here, how many more do you know? _

He didn’t expect an answer to that however. And predictably, Edogawa shook his head.

“It’s best if you didn’t know.”

Kaito didn’t like that, but it wasn’t as if he could demand anything more – well, he could, but that wasn’t likely to get him any answers.

“At least tell me this. Is that woman okay?”

Edogawa blinked up at him. “Who? The one you disguised as? She’s dead.”

Kaito’s eyes widened – 

“And that is all you should think of her as.”

– and then it clicked.

Sherry was blown up along with the last carriage of the mystery train; that was the official statement. Kaito could guess at her story – previously part of the organisation, but when she refused to work for them, they wanted her dead. It was the same reason his father had been targeted. 

_ And they succeeded. _

“That’s good,” Kaito said lightly, “I hope she has a peaceful afterlife.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Edogawa smile and then frown. He wondered what that meant.

“What are you going to do about him?” Kaito asked after a while.

“Nothing.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that – what is  _ he _ going to do about him?”

“No one will be doing anything about him.” Edogawa gave him a look, “Seriously Kuroba, Amuro is fine. I know the impression you have of him, but really, don’t bother yourself about it.”

“I don’t want to bother myself,” he retorted, “but  _ it _ is certainly bothering me. He is right below your house, do you not worry for Mouri-chan?”

That seemed to push a button. Edogawa looked irritated, but Kaito wasn’t willing to relent. He wanted some information, he was tired of being in the dark. Especially about things that concerned him.

“He won’t harm civilians.”

“He planted a –” Kaito lowered his voice, “–  _ bomb _ in a train. I think you and I have different definitions of harm.”

“And I told you it wasn’t him!”

Kaito narrowed his eyes. There it was again, that claim of ‘ _ it wasn’t him’ _ . That could only mean one thing.: there was another member of theirs present at that time. Someone who had prepared for the eventuality of Sherry’s escape and wanted her dead without failure. 

They went their separate ways after that. Edogawa was clearly unwilling to tell him more and Kaito didn’t want to press. He’d received a lot of information anyway. The question was, what did he want to do with that information? It certainly made him feel at ease to know who and where his enemies were, but his hands were full trying to balance school and heists and now, the FBI. 

_ Snake is enough of a headache, do I really want to get involved with Bourbon? _

Especially since he didn’t know all his abilities. Edogawa had called him dangerous and to receive such a label from the boy, his abilities had to be higher than Snake’s. And he was also Mouri Kogoro’s apprentice – that was the weird part. What was he doing playing at being a detective?

Edogawa had told him to leave it, and perhaps he would have, before. Before he had been made to realise just how vast this organisation was. But now, wouldn’t pooling their talents be more helpful?

_ “I needed to know about my father – that is why I – he was killed and I want his murderer found!” _

_ The man listened calmly and only said, “I get the impression that you already know who killed him. No, what you want is evidence.” _

_ Kaito clenched his jaw. “Yes. This crime has been hidden for too long – you cannot stop me.” _

_ The man dipped his head, “Then let us make a deal. We are, after all, pursuing the same target.” _

Kaito didn’t know why he was reminded of his conversation with the man, but now, months after he’d struck the deal with the FBI, he could see the merits of it. Before, blinded by anger, he’d failed to consider how it would help him.

_ We are, after all, pursuing the same target. _

They would bring Snake to justice for the murder of Kuroba Toichi. In return, Kaito could help save potential victims of their organisation with his skills. That is mainly what the man had asked of him and remembering Sherry, Kaito could see the benefits.

_ She got away. _ Kaito pressed his fist to his lips, where a smile was threatening to break past his poker face. Sherry had gotten away from the organisation, her life intact. 

In the months – years – that he’d spent trying to get a hold of Pandora before Snake could, it had been one rejected jewel after another. It was like a search for a needle in a haystack, and his efforts barely yielded fruit. But learning what he had today… that felt like accomplishment. 

“Sherry,” Kaito murmured under his breath, “How does it feel to be safe – to live your life knowing you’re free? And I wonder, are you also working for the FBI?”

It was only when he reached home, somehow having navigated a train journey without remembering anything of it, that Kaito realised he’d already decided.

_ I want to be involved. And if you won’t tell me – well, you didn’t ask for permission before you barged into my life. Don’t expect the same courtesy. _

* * *

Haibara snapped her fingers in front of Conan. “Are you listening to me?”

Conan looked up from the medicine box, “Yes, yes, eight hours gap, I heard you!”

She sighed, “I still wish you wouldn’t go on that trip to Kyoto. Really, all for a school trip…”

Conan glanced at her. “Don’t you complain, you’re glad to have data about how this version of the pill works.”

“I would if I was there! But I’ll only have to rely on the information you give to me.”

He snapped the box shut, putting it into his pocket. “It will be detailed,” he promised. Then, “He asked about you.”

“Who?”

“Weren’t you feeling bad about blackmailing him?” Conan said and watched how Haibara’s fingers clenched into a fist.

“What did you tell him?”

“That Sherry is no more.” Conan gave a smile. “After all, isn’t that the truth?”

Haibara took in a shaky breath and slowly let it out. “Yes. Yes, that is true. Sherry is dead.”

The smile she returned was small and fleeting, but nonetheless, genuine.

* * *

“Yu-chan!”

Yusaku glanced up from his laptop, rubbing at his eyes. Yukiko stood at his study door, a phone in her hand. He groaned.

“The editors?”

Yukiko shook her head, “Chikage. She said she was making a stop in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks.”

He sat up straight at the name. “This is a surprise. Is she coming over?”

“Yes, but Yu-chan,” Yukiko hesitated, “about that… weren’t we going to see Shin-chan?”

Yusaku frowned, thinking of the recent breakthrough they’d had. “Let’s see how our schedules line up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small bit of plot advancement? Let's see how this goes...   
> Let me know what you thought of it! Leave me a comment (it feeds my muse)


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